FairyTail All Over Again, The Dragon's Bond
by Mechamech-Leviathen
Summary: Fairy Tail told with a darker side. After Lisanna's death, a dark hate is awakened in Natsu, he leaves Fairy Tail to become stronger, but how much of himself is he willing to sacrifice, can the women that love him save his broken heart from the anger within? Can he protect them from evil, and the evil in himself? Heartbreak, Romance, Love, Action, Violence, Death. Na*Harem Citrus
1. Of Dragons and Slayers

Intro: some beforehand information about Dragons and Slayers you don't need to read it if you care about spoilers, but not big ones, just some background stuff to help you understand the story later on. I have also moved the History of Earth land here as well, that his lots spoilers so skip it if you like surprises.

* * *

The guide to Dragons in the World of Fairy Tail (exert from the book of Dragons, chapter 94)

In the world of Fairy Tail, dragons are very rare creatures, and very proud and territorial as well, more intelligent than humans, they have the capacity to hate and love. Dragons are only capable of loving another of the opposite sex, and may love more than once, or may love more than one dragon at a time. To secure their lineage and chance of offspring, dragons have a special magic, when they find another dragon that they connect with, their love allows them to bind their souls and magic together into one, fusing their fates. Male and female dragons will do this with more than one mate throughout their lifetime, a male dragon will often have multiple female mates, and vice versa, and they will breed for life once a dragon is marked, it losses the ability to mark any other dragons. Although the main dragon, the one that activates the bond; also known as the bond forger, will always love his or her partners, the partners themselves may have to learn to coexist with each other, however, there is no sense of hate, only jealousy against any other partner and through the dragon bond, they learn to not only coexist, but share their mates love with each other.

Though humans might consider this a sort of harem, to dragons, it has many resulting benefits. For one there is the strength in numbers against other monsters, demons, and hateful humans, there is the sharing of knowledge and magic that allows for the creating of new types of dragons and magic, an example is a fire and earth dragon mating and producing a magma dragon as offspring. Another benefit is the higher number of offspring that are born, as a female dragon will only lay three eggs throughout her lifetime. The offspring retains half the magical power of each parent, and develops new and unique abilities. This system of mating, known as polydraceros (Latin for multi dragon love, not in a sexual way but in the truest and most pure sense of love, or the everlasting bond of more than one soul mate between dragons), allows hundreds of new dragon types to be born. Nevertheless, dragon offspring born from a single polydraceros are genetically unable to breed with one another, and because they still share a trace of their parent's polydraceros magic, will never fall in love with each other, which negates the problems associated with constant inbreeding. However, there is another side to the polydraceros bond. When a dragon is unwilling, unable, or chooses not to find a mate, they will be drawn to find a human child of the same sex, one that has been abandoned and left alone, and raise him or her as its heir, this instinct is due to an old pact forged by humans and dragons after the Great War.

The dragon will take care of the child, nurture it, protect it and teach it in the ways of dragon magic and knowledge. As time progresses the human will not only obtain the ability to harness it pseudo parents element based magic, but will also begin to channel the power and spirit of its dragon, allowing it to be protected from and consume that element that pertains to their parent to regenerate magic and energy. These characteristics also allow them to gain abilities similar to their parents, characteristics which make them half dragon and half human. These kinds of humans are known as dragon slayers, not because they kill dragons, but rather because they are the few humans that develop the necessary strength and magic abilities to be able to fight a dragon and live. Just as the dragon transfers its abilities to its heir, the human child will also develop some of the traits associated with the polydraceros bond, with a few minor differences.

For dragon slayers, the ability to fall in love mimics that of dragons, in other words, they can fall in love more than once, and be in love with more than one person, unlike dragons however, humans can fall in love with a person of the opposite sex, as their polydraceros bond is not associated with the need for offspring, just human love. Also like a dragon, a human will retain the polydraceros magic inside, only being able to fall in love like normal human, until they are around the age of sexual maturity, (for dragon slayers, around the age of 15-18), once a dragon slyer has fallen in love, and has someone fall in love with them at around this time, the polydraceros magic senses the bond, and on instinct, causes the dragon slayer to form their polydraceros with their chosen mate.

This bond is accomplished by biting the chosen mate on the neck, and while a magic seal is branded on their skin, a small transfusion of blood occurs, transferring magic energy as well. This bond in humans also has a side effect that dragons do not possess, due to the more deep and spiritual nature of human love, as well as the transfer of power and magic that it entails, polydraceros has the ability to bring back a human from the brink of death, or even those whose life has just left them. On the other hand there is not an equivalent exchange of magical abilities, some talents will transfer over, but the partners will not gain the full abilities of the other, only be transformed into a more powerful and unique version of themselves, sharing some characteristics with their partners magic.

Almost equal transfer can only happen when two dragon slayers form a bond with one another, when two dragon slayers bond, they are granted a doubling of power, and absorb the characteristics of their pair, a fire dragon slayer and a wind dragon slayer will gain the ability to eat fire or wind, and use fire and wind attacks, though not as many as their partner. Dragon slayers can also not fall in love with humans with no latent magical abilities, the polydraceros prevents this for two reasons, one is that the non-magic human will most likely not survive the magic transfer of the bond, but also because of the latent need for a strong and equal mate able to produce magical offspring. Dragon slayers may also form larger parings than dragons as their ability to bind with one of the opposite sex allows them to share a wider range of connections, however, for humans and dragons alike, polydraceros only allows for a maximum of ten bondings, to ensure an equal amount of distribution of mates to other dragon slayers. Dragon slayers may also choose to only form one bond, or may only ever love one other human, or not love at all.

* * *

The guide to Dragons in the World of Fairy Tail (exert from the book of Dragons, chapter 95)

Dragon slayers and dragons in general possess huge amounts of magical power. Dragons in their own right when fully matured, are nearly unstoppable, and even more so when they grow to become elder dragons. Elder dragons live for thousands of years, although many lose the ability of flight (except sky, wind, storm, lighting, fire, and celestial type dragons or light element dragons, in terms of material density, not as in light or dark) they continue to grow to huge proportions, sometimes being mistaken for natural land formations while the stay motionless.

Dragons have the ability to tap into almost endless magical power, and many in fact are the cause of extraordinarily destructive natural phenomena like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and tidal waves.

Many of these traits are passed onto human dragon slayers, but do to the nature of their bodies smaller size and lesser magical stores, their full potential is locked away until they can fully mature and access more power. This power usually is unlocked in stages, and by force, if a slayer is not under heavy duress while using all his abilities the next power level will remain locked away. This is a biological system that was put into place to prevent a dragon slayer from going berserk with a dragons full power and slaughtering humans, and to prevent their bodied from burning out to the unaccustomed power.

However there is one exception to the normal rules of power for a dragon slayer. The Leader of the dragon race, what can be considered the dragon king (or queen), is the monarch of the entire race. The dragon king is chosen on several factors, age, wisdom, power, character, strength, and blood. A dragon king can only come from a dragon that is of a certain age, not quit an elder dragon, but not young by any standards (given that dragons lifespans are unknown, but that some elder dragons have been said to be over ten thousand years old, it can be estimated that at least 5000 years of life are expected for this position.) wisdom of action to lead their race, the physical and magical strength to defend it, character and morality beyond measure, strength of heart and will, and finally some blood or direct familiar connection to the previous ruler. The Dragon king most likely will pass his lineage on to its offspring, and the first to show these qualities, if the ruler only has one child then the position would go to them, if however the dragon has no heir or prodigy, then another dragon must challenge the ruler to a series of test that challenges each needed aspect for a new ruler, this will continue until a worthy successor is chosen, and the process begins again.

As stated before there is one exception to the normal rules of power associated with dragon slayers, and that is if the dragon slayer was raised by the current ruler. This dragon slayer, a one and only until a new king raises a new slayer, is known as an Ultimate Dragon slayer. Their power and magical reserves far exceed those of normal slayers, as do the changes they undergo. Ultimate slayers are true masters of their element, to them it comes more naturally that breathing, they can progress more rapidly through the power levels associated with normal slayers, and even surpass the power of their parents. They would eventually have the ability to undergo a full dragon force transformation, and become a dragon, just as dragons can take on human form, the ultimate slayer could eventually easily transform into a dragon, allowing them to use the full and unchained extent of their powers. They would also be in position to inherit the throne after they too had passed each test of leadership required to rule the dragon race.

* * *

From the lost texts of the eleven race and the current information collected by the Magic council: a summarized history of Earth Land. **_(Warning, ignore if you don't like spoilers, if not, read on)_**

* * *

Since the universe came into existence by some unknown power entity or force, it was filled with powerful and replenishing energy. This universe was located on the "right" side of the multiverse width (multiverse: every single parallel version of earth that has, is, will, or can exist, think of it as an infinite horseshoe of infinite dimensions. The "right side" is defined by an affinity for magic to exist, while the "left is devoid of magic, and evolves science in its place, the exact center is a combination of both, a world that has perfectly balanced the use of magic and science, and the ends are the opposite, worlds so devoid of magic that normal life cannot exist, while on the other side the worlds are so full of magical energy that laws of physics hardly apply and energy is infinite, but let's not worry about that for now, just know that Edolas and Earth land are close to the center on the "right" side.) Eventually the magical energy condensed and formed galaxies, stars and planets, and eventually Earth. This planet was located on a universal crossroads, in other words it was a nexus for magical energy, due to this beings came to manifest themselves, also known as "gods". These beings lived on earth and eventually from them there came into existence various forms of life, just as their actions on the planet's surface and their wild energy created the forms of lands like the sea, deserts, and plants. These offspring were made of pure magic, but had no form, they could interact with the world, but it did not please them, so they changed their form, combining with the land to create new beings. These were the first and most ancient of races, magical creatures that ruled the earth in their own domains. The "gods" had left earth to explore the universe, but their existence faded into mythology as the "primordial creators" of life, they became known as the divines.

The magical races that arose included from their offspring included:

The Dragons: forces of nature in their own right, dragons are the personified form power, begins born with the power of an element. They are proud and mighty creatures, very territorial, with the ability to speak, they can also love and hate with a passion that rivals almost any creature. They can transform into a smaller bipedal form (resembling a human). The males can make packs with a female as a life partner, more than once and vice versa, with no partner a dragon will find a suitable heir to takes its place, and their prodigy would be a creature of a different species a cross breed of magical creature and dragon.

The Elementals: Pure beings of a specific element, made almost entirely of energy and matter, they are created when large sources of magic gather in space and fuse to matter or energy, gaining consciousness's, they are quit childlike in nature, though their state of existence allows them to tap into hidden knowledge of the universe, making them wise as well, they are very full of pride, and are some of the most powerful things to live on earth, they reside in their native element, affecting nature with their thought and actions.

The Beasts: the first forms of natural life, these creatures possessed the least amount of magic than the rest, but were strong in body; their linage would lead to the rise of natural animal life they ruled over, having the ability to mimic other forms.

The Fairies: Tiny childish beings that were composed of happiness, radiance and light the tiny sprites resembled glowing white elves of miniature size, with the exception that they all had tails and insect like wings, their magic involved the natural world and its mysteries, they lived in harmony with the beasts, High Elves, and dragons, ignored the elementals, despised the Demons, and looked up to the Spirits, they could take on a similar form of their closest relative the elf, and would sometimes interbreed.

The Spirits: Celestial in nature, these beings had their magical energy tied to the formation of arcs between heavenly bodies and earths nexus of energy, attaching to stars and nebula's, and other space formations, they became the celestial spirits, the nebula spirits, the angels... etc they would manifest themselves in corporeal forms from time to time, being born and dying as the star formations changes.

The Demons: not beings of evil, they were just a combination of the Spirits and the beasts, creatures with high levels of magic, but less power in physical form in comparison, and could live in both the spirit plane and earth.

The High Elves: these beings were the manifestation opposite that of a dragon, they were incredibly wise, lived long, and were strong, but they did not live wildly, and were not territorial. They were the first to decide to use magic as a set of rules, creating civilization and eventually technology.

The primordial (-1000000 or more to -2500): The evolution of the various races occurred, there are no records of this time, or from before, but was known that the divines had created the earth.

The First War (-2500 to -500): to many races were rising, and the hub of magic that was earth did not have room, they began to fight among themselves to seek supremacy, and many of them were killed, and their powers diminished. The elementals faded back into the primordial earth, dragons lost most of their power and territory, and to survive they bred a line of "royalty" the royal dragon line could pass down the full power of the dragons, as a safety, while their population dwindled. Most of the strongest Beasts died off except for a few that hid in the corners of the earth those that were left hid and retained their transformative power, and the rest became the animals, monsters and creatures we see today, Fairies went into hiding, Spirits retreated into their ethereal state, demons also diminished and hid inside the darkest and deepest corners of the earth, High Elves almost lost all their power, and eventually their remnants became the human race.

The Gold Age (-500 to 0): hundreds of years passed, and the humans had grown, many had lost all their magic, but a good number were still capable of unlocking magical abilities. These humans were called mages or Wizards, a few retained the full power of the elves, and became warlocks, leaders of their race. The last colony of dragons, a few thousand, still littered the globe, interacting with the other races peacefully, but defending their territory. The elementals long forgotten, a few still existed, but they slumbered peacefully. Such ancient and powerful Beasts as the Leviathen, Cracken, Hydrus, Skyserpent, Fenfir, and Jormungandr secretly lived on as well. Fairies had come out of hiding and freely interacted with humans; Spirits did so too, and were often regarded as gods by humans, giving rise to spiritual mythology. Demons sometimes attacked, and were regarded as monsters, but many lived in peace, secretly hidden or disguised as humans. It was a time of peace and prosperity, great human cities were built, and they still retained much eleven knowledge. But a dark evil grew; remnants of First War had created a dark and insidious magical force, combining with greed, envy, sin, hate, attaching to the weakest of all races, humans.

The Great War (0 to 300): turmoil broke out as humans set out to conquer all, invading and destroying the lands of fairies and dragons, capturing and torturing celestial to gain their powers, war broke out, and the three main forces almost destroyed each other, the ancient beast fought as well, and the fairies sided with humans that were innocent, almost becoming extinct in the slaughterer. Soon the rising evil infused and concentrated around one of the darkest and most wicked of the human leaders, Emperor and Warlock Tenebris though strong in power, was weak at heart, he sought to take complete power of all the races. The Dragons, Humans and other Warlocks, remaining fairies and celestials attacked and defeated him, but not before he trapped one of the ancient dragons, and using his son, channeled all the darkness into them, the dragons name was Acnolgia, and his newborn son Zeref. The remaining forces sealed away Acnolgia and Zerefs power, hiding him from the world as he could not be destroyed, for fear of once again releasing evil. Much of the history before this time was lost, and the ancient beast went back into slumber.

The Silver Age (300 to 500): The remaining races made a pack: Humans would be left alone, but would have to lose all their knowledge from their Elven ancestors though they could create a magical council to administer their power, most of the Warlocks had died in the war, but a few passed on their blood to other wizards, diffusing their power. The dragons would keep to their land as well as the humans. While many remaining demons hid from or blended in with humans, often mating with them and forming families, many of these cross breeds developed unnatural silver hair, and the ability to use transformation magic such as takeover, and for a few with more demon blood than human, to use latent demon powers like demon soul. One of these families was the very olden Strauss family. Dragons were allowed to raise and train humans as heirs to their power, ensuring amnesty between the two races, and a power that was half of both, insurance in case either side broke out in war. These were called the dragon slayers. Celestials were to leave earth and live in their place of existence the higher realm, but were allowed to aid humans when called upon by celestial keys, gateways between the two worlds, however if their power was misused or their contracts abused they could punish the human that had summoned them, ensuring amnesty, however the power was only spread to a few human bloodlines that could wield the keys successfully, the primary linage of wizards granted this power were the semi royal Heartfilia's who had fought against Tenebris during the Great war and had previously intermarried with the few remaining fairies, leaving them the as one of the only human linage with fairy blood (unknown to them, royal fairy blood, a few other with fairy blood existed, including the Vermilions though not of royalty.)

The Prophetic Age (500-900): After the Pack a prophecy came into existence, that once again evil would rise and tear the world asunder, Zeref would return, Acnolgia would rise again, and the world would fall, the sky and earth would have to unite and rise, and only the power of a royal line combined from the remnants of the last races would have any chance to defeat the coming darkness. To prevent this disaster, in secret and without knowledge or interference from the council, the rulers of each individual race formed a secondary pack with each other, to produce a royal hair capable of fulfilling the position described in the prophecy. The dragon king Igneel (and most powerful of the fire draagons) and the Celestial spirit king agreed on a plan. Igneel in human form married a human fire dragon slayer, and his grandson was sent out into the world with foster humans, to live a human life until his time arrived, his foster parents however were not aware of his heritage, a dragon in human form, and royal heir to the dragon kingdom, freighted of his early displays of fire magic, they abandoned him to die, he was coincidentally saved by his grandfather and secretly raised until Igneel had to return to his duties, he made it so that Natsu would eventually end up in the Fairy Tail guild, which so happened to have purposely been founded by Mavis Vermillion, the human/fairy half-sister of Igneels dragon slayer bride. on the other side in the Spirit world, the spirit king eventually took a wife, Jude Heartfilia, and had a child, though the cost of living in the spirit plane weekend her, she returned to earth and remarried an owner of a merchant guild, and raised their daughter in ignorance of her fairy and celestial blood. Lucy was human/fairy/and celestial, and both rulers of sky and earth sealed their powers and early memories away.

Meanwhile the demon king and the queen of the beasts had begun to prepare for the prophecy as well, their daughter, the heir to both thrones had married a human man by the name of Strauss, but was killed at the hands of an entire dark guild in search of their power, their three children had survived but were so young as to never know they were also from beast and demon royalty, they escaped only to eventually arrive at Fairy Tail, where Natsu and Lucy had already been ingrained to find.

Throughout their time in Fairy Tail (and this story) these special children begin to uncover their true powers, and during the S class Exams see that Zeref is alive, but has only 1/100 of his power, and his father's memories and evil are still sealed away, he tries to get killed by Natsu, after having watched him grow from afar and informs them of the prophecy, knowing the prophecy, but he sees they are not strong enough, he is damaged by Hades and begins to reawaken, summoning a shadow of Acnolgia, they are placed in stasis for 7 years. Eventually they are released, and begin to train for the battle that will come on the solstice of shadows. After the wizard games Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail live in peace for a few more years, raising new families of their own and training for the solstice, The dragon slayers go reunite and train with the dragons, Natsu is accepted as king, Lucy does the same in the Spirit world and becomes queen, The Stauss do the same with the demon king and the beast queen. The other members of Fairy Tail waste no time and set about to recruit the help of the ancient beasts, and seek the help of the three reaming Elemtals, Ultear hekps them unlock their second awakening andNatsu finds he is also the great great great great great grandson of a Warlock making him one of the most powerful wizards in all of Earth Land, apart from Zeref. Three years pass and they and all their allies face off against Zeref and Acnolgia and all hell breaks loose.

The New Age (900-?): Epilogue


	2. A Painful Death

**Read My Profile Before You Begin: (Spoiler alert at the end, be warned)**

Although the story will closely mirror that of the anime, it will be filled with death and despair, horror, betrayal, pain, blood and tears, but fear not, for there will also be lots of friendship, love, romance, and fluffy lemons between characters. (that is if the story isn't taken down)

'thoughts'

"words"

-Flash- _flashback_

* * *

Natsu ran through the cold pouring rain, Happy clinging to his back, the droplets stinging his face, his surroundings a blur. Behind him Mirajane shouted, her tears and sobs matching his as she yelled out to him "Natsu!, Wait!" Ignoring her anguished cries he continued to sprint, he didn't know where his feet where taking him, and he didn't care, what he had just heard, it was too much-too much, It was impossible, she couldn't be gone, not like this. Mirajane's voice still wrung in his ears, her words repeating over and over and over, tormenting him as he continued to run, soaked to the skin but unfeeling. "Li Lisanna's Dead." Happy shrilled into his neck, tiny sobs escaping his chest as he cried out "Natsu"but he could barely hear his loving friend. He didn't blame either Elfman or Mira, he didn't care, all he blamed was himself, If only he could have been there, if only he had gone along with them on the mission, but they had insisted that they were enough, that they could protect his Lisanna. Tears ran from his eyes, mixing with the rain as he continued to run, his lungs burning, his heart aching, his mind shrieking. "Why?"

Thunder strikes

* * *

-Flash-

_When Lissana and her older brother and sister- Elfman and Mirajane, joined Fairy Tail after the loss of their parents, he and Lisanna instantly become childhood friends. They were perfect compliments to each other, while he was bold, daring, sly, passionate, and boisterous; Lisanna was often shy, reserved, cute and caring however they both hid thier true feelings from the open. While together, Natsu would express his sad and lonely side, and Lisanna would always be there to cheer him up. To the rest of Fairy Tail they seemed inseparable, always playing together and having fun._

_Wherever he went, Lisanna followed. He hadn't know why he liked Lisanna so much; although he also like all his other friends at Fairy Tail (except gray, that pervert ice brains) and looked up to all the elder members, (although he found Erza and Mirajane to be very mean and scary, Mira teased him and Erz beat him), no one else in the guild could make him smile and feel at home like Lisanna. Every time he saw her, he would feel content and warm inside, maybe it was due to their shared connection, the similar feelings of abandonment the felt at the loss of their parent(s), or the new home that they shared together at Fairy Tail. Both Natsu and Lisanna saw Makerov as a sort of grandfather, he had taken thin into his family without compliant allowing them to meet and make so many new friends. She always seemed to be the only one to truly understand him, she never got angry or upset at his antics, and although he had a hard time expressing his concerns and feelings, no words were need for them to communicate._

_The first time that he had pulled her to one of his newly discovered areas in the forest to play, she had blushed madly, and he had been completely ignorant of the red creeping up her cheeks._

_Where their hands touched she could feel a warm buzz as it flowed up her arm, her stomach fluttered as Natsu glanced back at her, a goofy grin plastered on his face and they ran laughing through the woods._

_As the days passed, he was puzzled by the warm excitement that griped him every time Lisanna reached out and took his hand; he didn't understand why he blushed every time she did this._

_Although the young mages had yet to realize it, they had already begun to fall in love. The sensations the two experienced were so foreign and so new, but they were only amplified when he had discovered the blue dragon egg in the East Forest._

_His face had flushed with pink when Lisanna asked him to help raise the egg; she was stern but sweet while he showed him how to warm it up. He blushed even more after they had settled into the little straw hut she built for them…_

* * *

Finally Natsu looked up, unable to continue, and realized where he was at -that clearing- in the rain he could see the outline of a dome, the grass home she had built for them to raise Happy. Shuddering sobs ripped through him as he punched his fist into a nearby boulder, shattering off a long chunk. Happy tumbled off his back and lay in the grass sobbing behind him. He continued to punch the rock, his knuckles bruising then bleeding as the skin was shredded off, until it was nothing more than pulverized rubble. Deep in his mind, an aggravating, acid like thought had taken hold. He picked up the large cone of rock that had first splintered off and carried it in his shaking hands towards the front of the small hut. With all his might he buried it into the rocky earth underneath, securely lodging it in place. His mind continued to race with scenarios as he began to shout and scream, his vocal cords tearing in his efforts to express the pain of Lisanna's death.

"WHY COULDN'T I HAVE BEEN STRONGER, I COULD HAVE PROTECTED YOU LISANNA, I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO PROTECT YOU, I COULD Ha-ghh!" He chokes as he coughed up specks of blood, his throat ragged and sore. He turned back to the rock and began to carve at it with his hands, flames encircling his fingers as he gouged out a form from the stone. Soon he was done, and in front of him stood a scared and melted monument, on its surface he had scratched an etching of a dragon encircling a tiger.

From his pocket he pulled out two rings, one made of seemingly flowing silver, as if it had been shaped while molten, delicate and smooth, polished to a white silver and wrapped around a small burning ruby, the other was a blazing red stone ring, thick and angular, a fire pattern trailed its surface, and at its crown a white opal rested. His still shaking hands gently placed the two promise rings they had made for each other a sign of their everlasting friendship, into the small alcove under the figures he had scratched. His mind wandered back as the tears continued to run down his face.

* * *

-Flash-

_The bright and cheery sun showed in the cloudless sky, its warm and calming rays illuminating the small clearing in the forest as Natsu admired Lisanna's handiwork. "Whoa" 11 year old Natsu sighed as he peered into the grass hut, "What do you know, it's actually pretty roomy in here" he said happily as he walked through the low doorway while he clutched the large white and blue egg to his chest._

_"Yeah, isn't it though?" the young Lisanna noted happily as she beamed at Natsu. "Anyway why don't you take a seat?_

_"Oh. Eh, sure!" He said as he set the egg into the pile of grass at the center and then set his small frame down, leaning his body back as he rested on his hands._

_Lisanna sat down on her knees on the other side of the egg and giggled, "It's almost like were a family now huh"_

_"How do you figure?" Natsu asked clueless at her insinuation._

_Lisanna smiled again while she pointed out- "Well we have a mommy and a daddy and the egg is like our little baby that hasn't been born yet."_

_Her words struck Natsu as he blushed "Hmm I guess that doesn't sound so bad."_

_Lissana smiled and reddened at his response, "How bout we try warming the egg together" she asked in a silvery voice as she wrapped her arms around it._

_"Kay" he responded as he leaned in and embraced the egg as well, his heart beat faster as their hands brushed together._

_"It's warm isn't it?"_

_"Yah" he responded as their hands touched again_

_"Wah!, it moved again!" Lisanna uttered as the egg shook._

_"I hope it hatches soon…"_

-Flash-

_It had begun to pour rain, the sky painted a dull and listless grey as he and Lisanna rushed back to their hut. His head still throbbed from where he had head-butted the giant green Vulcan._

_Before they could enter she stopped him- "Hold on, wait here a seck!" she ran into the shelter first._

_"Kay, come in!"She shouted out to him, he rushed in after her, the egg tucked away from the rain under his shirt._

_"Welcome back dear!" Natsu was completely taken aback by her stament, "I said welcome back dear" she responded with a glaring pout._

_He blurted the first thing that came to his mind while a tinge of red covered his cheeks "Uh, high honey I'm home?"_

_Lisanna giggled and blushed at his response, smiling._

_After his stomach had grumbled with hunger, she offered to cook him dinner, "Whoa! I didn't know you could cook!" She smiled at his astonishment._

_"Now listen" she told him after he had jumped to the idea that she was going to cook their egg, "I built this house so we could raise the egg together didn't? I want it to hatch just as much as you do!"_

_He had flustered at her while he lovingly caressed his egg. "Even if you get mad and pick fights all the time you still have a sweet side don't you?, just like Mira", "Huh?" he said looking at her._

_"It's been fun playing house with you", she began to blush again as she leaned towards him, "maybe someday… I could be your real wife?" Natsu turned red as his heart began to beat faster, his ears growing hot and his hands tingling. "whu… What got you thinking about that?" he flustered out._

_"I just noticed how strong and brace you are and your good with kids too, what's not to like?" The water covering Natsu began to steam as his faced burned with embarrassment._

_She may only have been teasing him, but deep down he knew she still meant those words, his heart beat even faster as his entire body was warmed the core, his face tomato red as steam continued to billow of his wet hair..._

_After the rain had finally stopped it pattering on the hut, Natsu and Lisanna had walked outside, suddenly golden yellow light pierced down from the setting sun, both of them standing close together as they watch it slowly set behind the mountains, she timidly reached out and grabbed his hand, turning they glanced at each other, self-conscious in their actions, but he didn't let go, her touch, just made him happy. "It be nice if it could stay like this forever, dot you think?" he smiled at her, and in his heart, he agreed._

* * *

Looking down at the stone with blood shot eyes, a smile flickered across his face remembering how those two rings represented an undying friendship, and maybe even more. He knew that Lisanna had known how much he cared for her; and ever since that first day in their small makeshift home, he suspected that she felt the same way for him. Except for Happy, he didn't think anyone could have mattered more to his heart. But he had never been brave enough, never … he paused as a wave of pain, sadness, heartache, and anger swept through him -forcing him to clench at his chest- he had never actually told her his true feelings, Lisanna was his first real true Love, the one that could brighten his darkest moments, the only person that never judged him, and accepted him for all his faults, the person he could spend the rest of his life with. Her beautiful shining face flashed before his eyes, her beautiful sapphire eyes sparkling, her glossy white hair feathered around her blushing cheeks as she gently kissed him for the first time the week before, her flowery scent lingering as her tinkling laughter echoed in his mind, her and her siblings waving to him as they left for her last mission. His every fiber ached for her presence and touch; his heart felt like it was being torn apart, he could only gasp as pain -true physical pain- ripped through his chest.

He gently took a hold of the precious scarf that wrapped around his neck, a gift from his surrogate father Igneel, and lovingly wrapped it around the center of the stone, tying it in place. Dropping to his knees, his arms lifeless at his sides, he stared up at the black and cloudy sky, the rain blurring his vision. He would always hate the rain now, the rain that would remind him of this day. Slowly flames began to grow and lick their way up his arms, but they were darker than normal, as if tinged with an underlying rage. Opening his moth he let out a roar as a pillar of red and violet flames shot upwards, the color of love and anger, as he screamed to the heavens "LISANNAAAAAAAA!"

He had made up his mind, and after this there would be no turning back. Slowly standing he gently picked up the still sobbing Happy and shakily walked back to his home, he would only be there long enough to leave a note, and then he would set off, he needed to become stronger, better, to be able to protect those he loved and cared, he could not stand by for more pain and suffering, or another death. He knew he would return back to fairytail, but to where he would go, or how long it would take him to show that he was ready, he did not know.

Five days had passes, five long and sour days. The guild was in a depressed mood, there were no smiles, no laughter, not even any fights. The guild members lethargically moped around the tables and chairs of the guild; Cana was passed out on the bar a sad look on her sleeping face, Grey dejectedly sat, no energy to even remove his clothes, Erza, stone like in her posture was rooted to a stool boring a hole into the bar top with her gaze. Elfman and Lisanna were both seated in a corner, comforting each other as silent tears left their eyes. It would be quite a while before the guild could return to normal, and even longer before their grieving and sadness left, on their minds they carried the images of the previous day.

* * *

-Flash-

_Yesterday they had attended Lisanna's funeral, a sad affair out in the grey and misty morning inside the private graveyard where all Fairy Tail mages were buried after their passing. Most of the members had lined up and shown their respects for the loving girl they had lost, all wearing black as they solemnly moved forward, though not related by blood, she was considered family to all. A few members, including Mira, Makarov, Erza and Gray looked around as if searching; the only person missed was a certain salmon haired boy. After Mira and Elfman had placed a large bouquet of white tiger lilies at her tombstone, Master Makarove_ _had given a quiet and elegant speech as he stood at the head of the procession. Wiping away a tear he began: "Lisanna Strauss was our little sister, she was a friend to all that knew her, her warm smile and her kind words, her love for her guild mates and friends warmed us every day. Her tragic loss has left us with a hole, a hole in your hearts, her death pains us all, non-more so than her loving sister Mira, her loving brother Elfman, and the love of her life, Natsu. Though we will never be able to see her again, may her kindred spirit watch and smile at us form a better place, and may we remember her in our hearts..." At these words Elfman had burst into tears, gently caressed by his sister as he cried "I am not a man, I'm so sorry Lisanna, please forgive me!" The rest of the guild had looked at them, not a single dry eye as it began to gently rain. Through their sadness the old man, the red haired knight, the Ice make mage, and the silver haired woman all wondered the same thing, 'where was Natsu?'_

Now they were back in the guild, and the day seemed to drag on forever, until finally the silence was pierced by Makarov's footsteps as he climbed down from the second floor and then gently sat himself next to Erza. A few minutes passed with no interaction between the two, until finally the master let out a quiet sigh and turned to her, "Erza I need you to find Natsu, it's been an entire week, and after he ran off into the rain with Happy we haven't seen or heard from him at all, I know he was hit the hardest by…"He paused, as if thinking over his words, "by what happened, and that is why he must be found, you know how he is when he is upset, right now he need friends, not loneliness." Erza looked down at her master, her mask of anger braking as sadness seeped through. "Yes master I will find Natsu."Standing up she walked to the guild doors, her shoulders slumping, her usual proud posture gone. Makarove tuned to the corner where the Strauss sibling sat comforting each other, "Mira. Elfman, I want you to go with her, I know how much you are hurting right now, but Natsu need comfort, I don't know what will happen if he is left alone." Mira and her brother gently nodded as they dried their tears and followed Erza out the large wooden doors.

The sun was once again setting, with no sign of the groups return. Hardly anyone had moved from their position since morning, and Makarove wondered where the hell Natsu had gone off to. With a thunders crash the front doors of the guild burst open, the resounding clap causing Cana to fall of the bar in surprise as Makarove looked up from his thoughts. Erza came running into the guild hall, closely followed by Mira and Elfman shouting after her "Era Wait!" She had a look of terrible sadness and fury as she ran to the master, angry tears streaming down her face. Suddenly feeling worried at her expression and sudden entrance, he was about to speak when Erza cut him off. "THAT STUPID, STUPID IDIOT, HOW COULD HE, DIDN'T HE THINK ABOUT HOW THIS WOULD MAKE US FEEL, THAT SELFISH FUCKER, HOW COULD HE!" Erza shouted, the previous stupor on the present guild evaporated as they all turned towards her, gathering around to see why she was having an outburst. Erza was crying and waving a soggy note around, while Grey, Cana, Levy, Jet and the rest stared on in apprehension. Behind her Mira and Elfman asked "Erza, what is it, what did you find?" "EXPLAIN" Makarov told her with a serious expression, "We looked everywhere!" Erza started, "we went to Lisanna's Grave, to Mira's house, To Natsu's house, and we looked all over town!" "His house was empty, but Erza found that note and ran." Mira interjected. "Here!" Erza thrust the wet paper at Makarove and he took it in his hands, hesitation on his face, "Read it out loud!" Erza almost cried out.

"Dear Fairy Tail, I can't stay in Magnolia any longer, I can't stand to feel the sadness here, I can't stand the pain or the memories, me and Happy are leaving to train, to become stronger, I wasn't there to protect her, I wasn't strong enough. I'm sorry that I couldn't say goodbye, I'm sorry that I wasn't there, Elfman and Mira, if you're reading this, know that I don't blame you, I blame myself, if I was strong enough to be there, maybe I could have protected you all. Im sorry, I don't know where I'm going, and I don't know how long I will be gone, please forgive me." Makarove finished reading the letter with shock on his face, an expression mirrored by everyone around him, looking up his hands shook with emotion as Mira burst into tears and Elfman remain paralyzed.

"Is it true?" Makarove asked, "Y Yes" Erza 'stuttered out in a whisper as tears of anger and sadness dripped down her cheeks. "Is he really gone? "cried Levy dejectedly, Erza could only nod, her hands shook as she spun on her heals and burst back out through though doors, Mira lay on the ground, hunched into a fetal ball as her chest was racked with painful sobs, Levy and Cana both crouched next to her and began to comfort her in their shared sorrow.

Elfman had recovered from his expression; walking to Makarove he caught his attention "Master, there's more, you need to see this…" The master folded the letter and slid it into his coat, then jumped down form the bar, he turned to Levy "Take Mira home Levy, stay with her." The young Bluenett nodded as Makarove turned back, following Elfman out the doors as the rest of the guild tried to process what they had just heard. Grey fell back down on his bench "that moron."

The rays of the fading sunlight stretched out the shadows of the trees into a large clearing, illuminating a small dome of grass and a scarf loosely hanging from a small monument, the silhouette of Elfman could be seen as Makarove followed closely. Elfman respectably stayed behind as he signaled to what he had brought Makarov out to see. The master slowly approached the stone, not understanding, until he was close enough to reach out and gently brush his hand against the engraved dragon and tiger. "Oh Natsu, you really did love her didn't you boy." he whispered to himself as his eye began to water. "I can't imagine the pain you must be in, but wherever you are, just know that she loved you with all her heart as well, Fairy Tail will always be your home Natsu, and we will wait for your return." The master bowed and paid his respects to Lisanna's memorial, a last tribute testifying to the young couple's hearts. Makarove turned back to Elfman, and nodding, thye walked off back to the guild, their forms fading as the last rays of sunlight died away and the dark and starless night took over.

From that day on, Fairy Tail would never be the same.


	3. The Return of Natsu

**Chapter 3 is done with a few minor changes and some corrected grammar, though i doubt i cought it all. for anyone keeping to the story i suggest you skim through it again, but you don't have to.**

**Warning, this chapter will be very dark and cruel at the start, there will be short descriptions of some despicable things, so if you would rather not read, skip ahead a few paragraphs, (scenes of rape and murder present) I think I'll make chapters that introduce main characters fairly long, and others shorter.**

'thoughts'

**ACTION**

**_Magic_**

"words"

-Flash- _flashback_

* * *

After weeks of searching the countryside endlessly, not a single sign or clue had been found; all traces of Natsu were gone. Erza, Grey, and Elfman abandoned taking quests and ventured into the forests and mountains, but he was just gone, vanished off the face of the earth. Eventually they had no choice but to give up, though any mention or rumor with any trace of resemblance was taken up again in the hopes to find the dragon slayer, but no such luck. Each lead was just that, a rumor, a falsification, and this pattern continued on for months until finally even Erza quit the search.

All the members of Fairy Tail that had been close to the young couple were changed after Lisanna's death and Natsu's disappearance, Elfman became obsessed with the phrase "to be a man", Mirajane completely lost her fire, abandoning her rivalry with Erza, her attitude, and her revealing gothic clothing for a sweet and kind character and a beautiful lavender dress. Reedus gained weight, Erza never took her armor off becoming stricter and angrier, the Master began to drink almost as often as Cana, and Gray gained a resigned attitude towards everyone else at the guild. For the first couple of moths there were hardly any brawls, but as time passed, slowly fairy Tail retuned to it old rowdy self. But the shame and sorrow of those two lost souls continued to haunt them, especially the scarlet haired knight and the now timid barmaid.

* * *

(Time Skip Two Years)

Two years, two long years had passed since Natsu had left Fairy Tail. The Guild was back to its old self, people were going out on quests, cheer was in the air, and fights constantly broke out, but some new rumors had recently begun to circulate the countryside. Stories of a Dark mage of immeasurable power had begun to surface, referred to as a "Dark Dragon" these rumors continued to escalate, said to be a dark wizard that possessed ultimate fire magic, this mage would always be accompanied by a small blue demon. This description gave some hope to the members of Fairy Tail that Natsu was indeed alive, but what troubled Makarove were the allegations held against this Dark Dragon. How the mage would wonder the land, killing without mercy, destroying entire bandit camps and Dark guilds, eliminating everyone except for a final survivor, left alive to spread the word. As more and more stories were heard, a pattern of these spreading rumors began to emerge. Makarov had taken to plot out the points on the map of Fiore behind his desk until he realized that they formed a path that seemed to be heading directly towards Fairy Tail.

* * *

A few months Earlier:

There was blood on the streets, crimson pools of liquid oozing across the cobblestones. Bodies were piled in clusters out in the open, their cold dead eyes staring lifelessly into the void. Women, men and children ran in all directions, their only drive to escape the marauding dark mages and bandits that were storming their town. I small blond girl, no older that five stood in the middle of the cobblestone street holding onto her torn and blood splattered doll, the cottages around her blazing in flames, no one paid her attention as she screamed for her lost mother, eventually she was silenced as a thin and sickly mage knocked her out and threw her into a cage with a group of other screaming women. Smoke from the burning cottages choked the sunny sky, shouts of mercy snuffed by the roar of the spreading inferno or the slice of a deadly blade.

This was the once happy town of Erizendore, a small and blissful village, a place where weary travelers could rest on their journeys on their way to the larger cities, a tightknit community where gossip was shared and childhood friends grew up together. But chaos had unfolded as they were attacked by a viscous pack of thieves, dark mages, and murders, a sick bunch to be sure, their ranks consisted of maniacs and assassin, rapist, thieves, and crooks, all drawn together by their sick leader Dranfga. Though not a very formidable dark wizard, he could keep his men in check; and he still posed a threat to those weaker to him, mainly the innocent victims he loved to prey on and slaughter in small villages such as Erizendore. The Wild Gang, as they were known, toured the country, exploiting any city they fell upon. Like a pack of rabid wolfs they took everything they wanted: gold, jewels, and money, they took all the food, they raped the women as their husbands and children watched. They even raped the little girls, leaving them lying in pools of bodily fluids as their sick slime seeped out of the young girls bodies, they were still alive, but their minds were completely shattered, their now soulless eyes stared into nothing until the mercy of the flames consumed their torn bodies and burned them from sight. The members of the gang continued to loot and murder civilians with sick abandon as they piled their treasures at their leaders feet, taking all the women they had yet to rape or kill and throwing them into a caged wagon.

It was purgatory in Erizendore, a living hell, and the villagers could do nothing to stop The Wild Gang, no help from the magic council would come, their town was insignificant and The Wild Gang was not troublesome enough to warrant action. The thick and greasy Dranfga sat upon his throne of loot, his yellowed and crooked teeth visible as he smiled like a child; he slowly took a sip of wine from a silver goblet as he watched the mayhem unfold before him. His oily hair slicked to his face, his skin veiny and patched with sores and cuts, he wore armored leggings and nothing more, his thick gut hanging out like a large gelatinous pustule. Dranfga really was a warped and malicious man, an evil of lust and greed, disgusting in his nature; he shared more qualities with a slimy puss filled maggot than with a human.

Dranfga's second in command -a large and muscular albino that specialized in clubbing his victims to death- dragged a young teenage girl by her blond locks up to the caged wagon, a wagon with a steel cage built on top of it, and inside a group of women ranging from their mid-20's to prepubescent girls sat, some were fighting and pulling at the bars, others were shouting and screaming, a few just sat and cried, while one little blond girl screamed for her sister. This was The Wild Gang's "Honey Cart", where they would keep their disposable playthings until they broke or became boring, by then they would be replaced by the women of the next town they raided.

Dranfga leered at the young beauty his lieutenant had thrown at his feet, she glared up at him from the ground with utmost hatred and spat in his direction, but he just began to grunt in laughter, his nauseating gut and flab jiggling until he let out in a truly repulsive slur. "Feisty aren't you girly, heh, he, he. Don't worry, from now on you'll be my personal plaything, only I will get to use you, and I plan to use every one of your tight virgin holes until you're a broken sack of flesh, you'll be my special cum-bucket!" He began to cackle as his lieutenant began dragging her by her hair again, she continued to scream and kick, but it was not use, she was doomed.

Suddenly a blur of blue flashed by the muscular lieutenant, so fast as to leave an afterimage in his mind, the last thing he would ever see. A drip of blood trickled down in a diagonal line from his scalp to his left eye, the streak continued to grow like a red tear in the man's pale white face, until the top of his head slid off and landed in the dirt with a wet thunk, his shocked expression split in two, brain mater splattered on the ground as he keeled over, blood gushing from his severed head. The young blond took one look and coward in a fetal position as she screamed her lungs out if fright.

Dranfga stared at this scene and looked up as a the blue blur resolved itself into the form of a small blue cat with a feral expression, it silvery glowing wings like a fan of knives, gently it sailed and landed on the shoulder of the man that now stood before him. His mind sputtered along as it tried to make sense of what had just happened, there was a small flying cat with glowing wings, a scar rand along its right ear, in its small paws it carried a jagged and silver foot long sword, the cat glared at him as it flicked the trail of blood of it sword off and rested it inside its scabbard. Dranfga turned his eyes to the pinked haired man on which the cat now sat on, his salmon colored hair stood up in spikey tufts; he wore an open black vest with a thin gold flame pattern running along its edges, his chiseled chest exposed underneath. The stranger wore loose black pants that ended at his shins, and steeled toed black combat boots. Around his neck a solid black scarf flapped in the breeze. His right shoulder was covered with a plated metal guard covered in taloned spikes, he had a bracer of black steel around left arm and a heavy gold plated belt around his waist scaled like a dragons hide, a circlet at its center held a large blood red ruby with a black slit, it almost resembled a dragon's eye.

Finally Dranfga 's mind finished his though process, his faced darkened with crimson rage as he shouted out, spittle flying from his mouth: "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU LITTLE SHIT, You trying to play the hero you dirty ass wipe, I'm going to fucking kill you for that!"

With surprising agility for his size Dranfga jumped at the Natsu, dark magic pulsating around his hands as his swollen and gelatinous form came rushing towards him. **Kuro no hason! (Black Corruption)**

"Tsk" to think this fat greasy lowlife thought he could stand a chance, after two years of exploration throughout the fourteen kingdoms, past the Bonded Mountains to the East of Fiore and endlessly and relentlessly training, researching, and discovering, Natsu was now at a level that put his old self to shame, his magic abilities, powers and attacks were so powerful now, an insect like this would stand no chance at a second insult.

As the fat leader of the Wild Gang rushed at Natsu, Happy knew what to do, he flew off to dispose of the other bandits that had begun to gather around them, a savage gleam in his eyes as he drew his little sword, bursting into a flash of blue he buzzed though the mob of lowlife scum. Their weapons and magic were nothing; they were not even fast enough to retaliate. As the cobalt blur flew past each bandit like a whirling buzz saw, each one had their throats slit; they were beheaded, or impaled. A few put up magical barriers or managed to throw their own attacks, but Happy was too fast, flaying low to the ground, he quickly cut at their heels and legs, causing them to fall, unable to stand, he then quickly circled back for another round, and this time a pop of air pressure was heard as he passed the sound barrier, bouncing from person to person like a deadly pinball, within a second all the dark mages and thugs were slashed to death.

Meanwhile only a few seconds had passes, as the fat filth of a dark mage flew at Natsu, he lazily stepped to the side, his face, which had been complacent and static before was consumed with rage. As Dranfga flew by Natsu reached out and grabbed his ankle, then turning, mercilessly began to smash him into the ground like a ragdoll, every swing pronounced with a shout.

"YOU" **BAM** "WORTHLESS" **BAM** "SICK" **BAM** "SHIT!"

By now the dark mages face had been reduced to a bloody pulp, his bloated face a mass of red flesh, gore leaking out of his ears and nose as blood from his crushed organs and shattered ribs filled his lungs, his heart failing. Happy flew in and dropped the last reaming bandit in the square, having left him alive to witness this moment. Natsu turned and stare into the bandit's frightened eyes, causing the dark mage to jumping back as he stared into Natsu's two molten orbs of burning rage. His eyes were red and slit, they pulsed with rage and disgust, fury and revulsion, they were a dragon's eyes.

Natsu tuned back to the still living Dranfga, opened his mouth, and slowly roasted the quivering and screaming mass of flesh into ash with his fire breath.

Logic totally abandoned, the dark mage sputtered out "w what in the c C Creators name are you?"

"I'm the Dark Dragon, the reaper of sin and sickness, the bane of wretches like you…"Natsu smirked as his eyes returned to their normal onyx color. "I am death to the illness and wicked of this land; you know your sins, remember what happens here." Natsu opened his mouth and breathed in; the flames blazing through most of the village flickered, and then flew up, swirling into his mouth. The blazing inferno was extinguishes as he drew it in, leaving the smoldering ruins of the village and the reaming structures untouched, however some of the flames jumped down and consumed the dead bandits before finally diapering down Natsu's throat, where the members of The Wild Gang had died, now there were only piles of ash. "Go." Natsu spat out in disgust and without hesitation the last mage ran for his life.

"Why did you let him go? "Whined Happy; back to his almost cheery attitude. "I think it's about time people knew about us, trash and scum like him need to learn, and he will spread the word. " Natsu responded with a dark sneer.

"Oh that's smart! You're not as dumb as I thought Natsu!"

"Hay, I resent that you little jerk" Natsu chuckled in cheery mood now that he had taken care of the trash. "Now help me free these people, we need to see if there are any survivors left."

"Aye sir" Happy saluted and marched off to the blackened buildings to search for any survivors.

Natsu walked up to the cowering girl, she was scared for her life at what she had just witnessed, and curled up again as the Dragon slayer approached. She flinched as he placed a hand on her shoulder, but he gently held her there while he spoke. "Don't worry, I know you are scared, but I'm not going to hurt you, I may look scary, but I'm a good guy, I took care of those bad men and now they can't hurt you anymore."

The young girl timidly looked up at him though her golden and dirtied hair, Natsu smiled down at her with caring eyes; all the previous rage had left him, now he only radiated warmness, a sense of compassion and sympathy for the frightened girl that lay underneath him. Hesitantly she turned towards him, "You have nothing to worry, I'm Natsu, what's your name?" "Hazel "she replied. "I won't harm you, I'm here to protect the innocent, and kill those that try to take that, I will never harm a hair on your body, your safe now, trust me, I'll protect you."

He gently reached out, she looked him in the eyes, and all her fears melted away as she saw his gentleness reflected in them. She lightly gave him her hand, Natsu griped her firmly as he helped her to her feet.

"Come, we need to help the others and see if anyone needs medical attention." She followed him as he approached the carriage with the caged women; they cowered back from him in fear, "no it's alright, he's here to help" Hazel told the frightened group. They nodded at her reassuring words. "Stand back." Natsu said, they scooted back to the end of the cage, Natsu wove his hand across the bars and they glowed white before melting. "Common, your all safe now!" he smiled with a goofy grin.

The females in the carriage timidly began to crawl out, Hazel was reunited with her little sister and many other women ran stumbling to their charred homes seeking for their dead husbands, children and family, a few loved ones had survived, but for many it was too late. Natsu had taken too long to arrive to save them all, he was angry with himself for having stumbled onto the bandits when he did, if only he could have arrived sooner, but now that he was here he would help them try to recover from the horrors they had witnessed. Happy had found a few other remaining survivors, and with their help he managed to gather the bandit's abandoned carts and linked them together into a caravan. Before arriving at Erizendore he had cleared the surrounding areas and town of thugs and criminals, killing anyone he deemed to be guilty of crimes against the innocent, he was sure the survivors would reach the next town safely by nightfall.

Just as he was turning to go Hazel, the young blond he had saved nervously walked up to him and gently took his hand, "Natsu, won't you come with us?"

Natsu looked at the young girls face, and the memory of a dazzling smile, silver hair, gleaming azure eyes flashed through his mind. Gently pulling away his face became hard and serious "I'm sorry Hazel but I can't, I have another path that I must follow, but I hope that you can stay brave, and watch over your sister for me, goodbye."

Hazel stared sadly at her savior; she had caught a glimmer, just a glimmer of complete sadness, misery, anger, fear, heartbreak, and hate flash through his eyes before he had smile again, but the smile was only on his lips. 'This man must have a tortured past to hate those evil men so much.' She thought as she hugged him goodbye, 'but he is still a caring person deep down.' "Arigato Natsu" she whispered during the embrace, then turned and walked back to her sister, climbing onto the middle carriage as it began to move, 'I wonder what his future holds?' Watching the caravan of the remaining villagers move away Natsu motioned to his small friend, nodding Happy picked him up by his shirt and began to fly, Natsu had his eyes set on the port city of Hargeon, any rumor about a so called "Salamander" were still of interest to him no matter their origins he might as well check it out-just in case. He had once been known by that name before he left the guild, and the only other possible being that could be described by such a term was his father Igneel, and now that he was in back Fiore he had decided to check this rumor out, and after that he was off to Fairy Tail, he was ready to show the guild just how strong he had become…

* * *

The port city of Hargeon bustled with activity; the marketplace was full of people milling about buying and selling goods. Wispy clouds floated through the clear sky as a young and buxom blond entered a small magic shop. She couldn't believe that there was only one magic shop in the entire town, but was also slightly pissed when the only worthwhile item she could find was a silver Celestial Spirit key of Nikora, Canis Minor. She had tried to use her feminine charms on the old geezer of a shop keeper but he had only knocked off 1000 jewels, what a rip-off!

The bust blonde left the store and notice a large crowd of cheering girls gathered in a square, 'I wonder what that's about?' Suddenly a trio of giggling fan girls ran by her "Oh my god, I can't believe it Its Salamander, the super famous and sexy fire wizard!"

'Salamander! Om my god I have to see him!' She thought as she ran into the milling crown of swooning girls. Pushing her way to the front of the crowd she begins to feel warm and dizzy, before her eyes is the one and only Salamander, the famous wizard that uses fire magic you can't buy in stores! His flowing purple cape, his charming good looks, he was such a dreamy hunk!

'Is this what love feels like?' the blonde though to herself as heart appeared in her eyes, 'Am I in love?'

Suddenly a man covered in a black traveling cloak and scarf and a head with vibrant tufts of pink hair bumped into her as he walked up to the Salamander. On his shoulder was a small blue cat.

"Who the fuck are you?, you don't look anything like Igneel" the man deadpanned at Salamander with an annoyed air. With those words suddenly the love charm broke and the blonde came to her senses 'huh... wait, was that a love charm he had on me, what the fuck what a creep!'

Natsu looked at Salamander with a questioning brow, "Oye, who the heck are calling yourself Salamander?" he asked as he looked the caped man over unimpressed. 'This sure isn't Igneel all right, guess they were rumors after all.' He was slightly disappointed, but it wasn't like he totally expected for his father to randomly show up in the middle of a town.

"I'm Salamander, surely you've heard of me of course!" The man proclaimed in a boisterous air, but Natsu was already walking away; suddenly he was pounced on by a horde of pissed of fan girls.

"Now now, that's enough my lovelies let him go, am sure the poor boy didn't mean anything malicious by it" Salamander drawled out, the curvaceous blonde glared at his dirty tricks and sleazy attitude.

"Here's my autograph kid, now you can brag to all your friends."

"I don't really care."Natsu carelessly tossed the signed poster into the crowd, inciting another fan girl attack, but he just brushed them off. "Guess it wasn't him after all" said Happy "Definitely" replied Natsu.

"Well I'm afraid I must be going ladies I have business I must attend to," activating a streaming carpet of purple flames the Salamander rose into the air "I'm having a swaray on my yacht tonight and your all invited!" The salamander burst away into the sky as the crowd of fan girls cheered.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Natsu wondered aloud. The blonde he had bumped into before spoke up: "I don't know, but he was a real creep, thank you for your help." She smiled at Natsu, "Want to go eat lunch, it's on me!" "Sure I have nothing better to do right now" "Aye" replied Happy. They set of after the blond as she walked off.

"My name is Lucy, it's nice to meet you!" "Mhhm" Natsu replied as he chugged down a tanker of beer as if it were water. Lucy explained how the Salamander had been using Banned Charm magic to hypnotize the girls, thanked him for barging into the crowd, and babbled on about how she was a wizard as well. Natsu turned to happy with a raised eyebrow as Lucy continued to talk; Happy just shrugged and went back to eating his fish. Natsu continued to agree with her with slight disinterest at her babbling.

"But I'm telling you I'm definitely going to join that guild someday, and them I'm going take all kinds of exiting jobs and make tons of money!"

"You talk a lot." Happy said casually, Lucy ignored his comment.

"Oh wait I forgot, weren't you looking for somebody?" she asked Natsu.

"Yah, were looking for Igneel" smiled Happy, "We were following a rumor of a so called Salamander, I bet that poser can't even breathe fire like areal dragon." Replied Natsu. Lucy sweat dropped at his casual statement.

"Wait I don't get it, your friend Igneel looks like a dragon?"

"No he is a dragon" Lucy sweat dropped even more at his deadpan expression 'Whaaaaat?' she thought to herself.

* * *

(Time skip nightfall)

After having left the restaurant and gone to a small park near the port to read the newest issue of Sorcerer weekly Magazine, Salamander had popped put of the bushes an invited to help her get into Fairy Tail if she came to his party, Lucy had relented to the Salamander's proposal and agreed, even if she had to put up with his dirty antics, at least he would get her into her favorite guild! Now she found herself in the Salamander's private chambers, she sat across from him in a deep and soft sofa, her luscious curves augmented by the form fitting lavender dress she wore, it was kind of strange that there only seemed to be beautiful women on board, but is she had to endure this sleazebag to get into Fairy Tail, she would gladly stay the whole night. After he tried to drug her with sleep magic infused champagne she realized he was even more of a slime ball, what made it worse was when he revealed that the rest of the girls on the ship had also been drugged and placed in the cargo hold, that he was going to take all these girls as his "merchandise" and sell them as slaves! Infuriated Lucy tried to use one of her keys to summon a Celestial Spirit, but the Salamander used his flame magic to knock them out of her hand, snatching them out of the air he then threw them out the window into the water. "Hmmmph, these are absolutely useless to me."

Tears began to stream down Lucy's face, her fist shaking with anger as two goons held her arms down- "You used magic to take advantage of others; you're the worst wizard alive!"

Meanwhile a black cloaked form fell though the sky streaking towards the center of the ship.

Natsu was pissed, and rightly so, while he and Happy had been resting after the meal that Lucy girl had paid for, they had overheard a conversation about the "Salamanders"party, and how he was an amazing Fairy Tail Wizard. But something about that man just gave Natsu a bad feeling, so he had taken out one of his various data storage Lacrima hidden in his gold plated belt and searched through it for any mention of a fire mage by the name of Salamander, of course he had shown up with a very short description, his Guild Affiliation and and location (Now Posted as MIA, Status Alive -N/A ). but he also got another hit, the same man he had seen that afternoon, was posted to be somewhat of a celebrity, but not else showed up, and his guild affliation showed up as unknown- Rumored Fairy Tail. Natsu then crossed referenced the image to any other known fire mages that produced purple flames and had only come up with a few other hits, but the one that interested him the most was that of Bora. Apparently Bora was posing as this celebrity, using Natsu's nickname as a cover, but he had been kicked out of his guild for his philanthropic nature and reported abuse of women, he was also listed as being charged with prostitution and wanted for questioning as a suspect in the female sex slave trade. After reading this he realized that if Bora had a party on his yacht, full of young impressionable fan girls, he was in the perfect position to sail from port with a cargo hold full of"merchandise"and dam him if he let this guy get away. Turning to Happy, who had been reading over his shoulder they both communicated instantly and without words, Happy lifted Natsu into the air and they flew off after Bora's ship.

when they were hovering about 500 ft above the ship Natsu commanded: "Drop Me" and promptly fell towards the ship.

**CRASH!** Abruptly the ceiling above their heads exploded in behind Salamander and his goons, standing in the pile of splintered wooden beams Natsu Glared at Boara with contempt. Looking behind him he spotted a startled Blond clad in a beautiful dress that only accentuated her figure, and recognized her as Lucy. 'So he got to her to, dam piece of trash.'

"Lucy come with me!" Happy wrapped his tail around Lucy's waist and pulled her out of the hole in the ceiling flying off into the sky. "Wait what about Natsu?!" She screamed as Happy continued to fly out of away from the ship, a wave of purple fire streamers followed them as Salamander attacked in an atempt to stop them, but Happy weaved in and out of their paths until they collided and exploded into a firework of sparks. "What about Natsu and the other girls?" "Don't worry about him, he can take care of himself, it's the girls we need to take care of, we need to help!" Happy shouted as he rounded back towards the ship. "Wait my gate keys!, I can use them to help but that ass threw them overboard, Happy drop me into the water!" Happy released his grip as Lucy dived into the ocean, following the glimmer of gold and silver she had seen from the air she grasped her keys and surfaced. "What are you going to do Lucy?" Happy asked her as he floated beside her. "This!" Pulling a golden key off the ring she shouted, "Open Gate of the Water Barer, Aquarius!" A whirlwind of water rose from the surface as a blue haired mermaid holding a spiral patterned vase burst out of the magical blue gate.

Natsu stepped out onto the deck of the ship "Hey Salamander, or should i say BORA, so you think your worthy of calling yourself a Fairy Tail wizard, what a shame, for a slave driver like you to sully Fairy Tails name, tsk." before Natsu could attack a roaring wave of water suddenly smashed into the side of the ship forcing him, Bora and his crew to grab a hold of the railing. the Wave lifted the ship on its side and rushed forward, smashing the yacht into the ports sandy banks as the ship cracked open allowing the now fully awake girls to run off screaming for help. The wave vaporized on the stone docks and rained down over the down.

"WHATS the big deal, you think you could have tried to not sweep me up with the ship?" Shouted a mud covered Lucy as she and Happy washed ashore. "Oh that was an accident; I didn't mean to get the ship." Replied the bitchy Aquarius. A tick mark throbbed on Lucy's forehead, "Wait that means you were aiming for me!" Aquarius dismissed her with a comment about her boyfriend before vanishing in a splash of water.

Lucy stood up and surveyed the shattered yacht with horror, "Holy shit!"

Inside the ruble of the ship Natsu stood up, he was starting to get pissed off, he didn't know where that wave came from, he didn't care, it was that fake Salamander and his slave trade, his kidnapping of that nice air headed blond Lucy that was the cause of his day ending in irritation. Walking up the side of the bow he looked down and saw the imposter pulling himself out from under the scrap wood. He turned as Lucy called out his name, "Stay there Lucy, I don't want you to get hurt." He turned back to Salamander. Happy pulled Lucy back from the ship "Common Lucy, Listen to Natsu."

"So you claim to be a member of the Fairy Tail guild huh…"

"So what's it to you, go get him men" Salamander replied as his goons rushed at Natsu. "Listen up, i've had a long day, and I don't care for scum like you, especially if you take advantage of women, and especially if you insult Fairy Tail Like that!" Natsu threw off his black traveling cloak reveling underneath a black and gold vest, a golden belt with a red jewel at its center, a shoulder guard that unfolded with wicked talons on his right and the Fairy Tail insignia on his left shoulder as he got into a fighting stance.

"Watch out!" Lucy shouted in worry, "Don't worry about him, I probably should have told you this earlier but he's a wizard to!" Happy smiled as he sat on Lucy's shoulder casually eating a fish he pulled out of nowhere. "Even holding back he's going to decimate them!" Lucy was shocked at his response. Two heavies rushed at Natsu, but were nonchalantly slapped aside like flies, sending them flying. Natsu glared at Salamander "My name is Natsu, but to my enemies I'm known as Dark Dragon, I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard, and I won't stand for scum like you!"

"You've got to be kidding me, so Natsu is a Fairy Tail Wizard!" Lucy exclaimed.

"That mark on his arm! This guys the real deal Bora!" one of Bora's thugs shouted in fear, "Don't Call Me That You Idiot!" Bora shouted back.

Lucy looked confused, "Wait Bora, I though he was Salamander, who the heck is Bora?"

"That guys Bora the Prominence, he was kicked out of the Titan Nose Guild (I think*) for being a sleazy womanizer and trying to capture women and sell them to the slave trade!" Happy told Lucy as she stared at Natsu in Awe.

"Right now I don't care who you are or what you've done Bora, but no one insults Fairy Tail to my face and goes unscathed." Natsu continued to walk towards Bora with a scowl.

"What are you going to do about it punk, stop me? **Purominensu no taifū!** (Prominence Typhoon)

A whirling stream of purple flames burst out and bombarded Natsu, the ground around him exploding. "Natsu!" Lucy called out fearing the worst, she tried to rush forward but Happy flew ahead and blacked her path, "Watch"

Bora stood in front of the inferno with his men and chuckled; "That's the way it goes, the bigger the talk the weaker the man." Suddenly the flames flickered into a cyclone as they were rapidly sucked into Natsu's Mouth, "This fire tastes like shit" Natsu said as the last of the flames vanished into his gullet, "are you sure you're a fire wizard?" Smashing his fist together Natsu started walking toward Bora once more, "Todays your lucky day poser, I'm not nearly mad enough to kill you and your ass wipe crew, but i'm still sending you all to the ER!." His onyx pupils contracted into slits as his cloths began to blow as searing air circled his body. Arching his back and cupping his fists in front of his mouth, a magic sigil appeared in front of him, at its center a dragons head glowed. K**aryūnohōkō!** **(Fire Dragons Roar**), a torrent of reddish flames exploded outward dousing the thugs in flames and blowing up the remainder of the broken yacht. Bora managed to fly up on his red carpet just as the attack hit. Most of his men were knocked into the ruble, unconscious and covered with third degree burns, but one of the remaining few managed to shout out in worry: "Hey Bora, I swear I've heard rumors about this guy before, the pink hair and the black dress, his golden belt, the way he just eats fire, he is The Dark Dragon, he kills of dark and Corrupt Mages!

Lucy Looked at Natsu in slight fear, she to had heard rumors about a ultra powerful wizard that was said to contain the rage of a dragon, who punished those he deemed unjust or evil, though the rumor was only a few months old, it had traveled quickly by word of mouth, its origins unknown, but had quickly become somewhat an urban legend. Then her brain maid a connection, the image of pink hair, fire breathing, a dragons roar, the name Salamander, the Fairy Tail guild, Sorcerer Weakly's last issue which featured a list of the most destructive guild members in Fairy Tail, and finally the name Natsu Dragneel. Suddenly her eyes widened into saucer shapes as she finally realized who Natsu really was, but remembering the picture she had seen and the man she was staring at now left her at a blank, the scrawny pink haird kid she had seen in the magazine looked nothing like this man, This Natsu Was ripling with muscle, he was taller, leaner, more rugged and handsome, toned and sharpened like a blade.

"That's him, its got to be him she thought, he's got to be the real one, the original Salamander!"she shouted out. "I see you figured it out" Happy said from her shoulder startling her from her mental reprieve, "At first i thought you were just a Ditsy blond, but your actually really smart to make that connection!"

"Hay!"Lucy shouted at him, unsure how to take his insult/praise, she watched Natsu continue to Walk towards Bora as she thought; 'but how could he be, he looked nothing like his picture, the only resemblance now was the pink hair, how could that skinny and rowdy looking kid change into this rugged, lean, sexy, perfec...No What am i saying!' she thought blushing as her mind sunk into the gutter.

Natsu was slightly ticked, oh well, he would actually have to let go of his restraint by just a fraction, if only to scare Bora and his remaining thugs shitless and get this over with quickly Releasing about a tenth of his power, bright orange flames engulfed his body; his golden belt glowed with heat causing the Dragons Eye Ruby at its center to appear alive, the edges of the spikes on his shoulder pad lit up, and the air around him roared with power as the temperature continued to rise. The flames around his hands glowed almost white as they swirled up his arms, his eyes glowed red with power, slited and angular now, just like a dragons. The canines in his teeth extended, and the tribal wings tattoos on his back glowed orange as the rippled across his skin and caught fire, as the sand around his feat turned to glass. Lucy stared dumbfounded at Natsu 'So this was the real Salamander, but what about that comment about being the Dark Dragon?' her inner question faded out as she gawked at Natsu's sudden transformation. "What, What is he!" she exclaimed in fear and wonder, "The ultimate Dragon Slayer and Fire Wizard!" Cried Happy as Bora launched his most powerful attack.

**Herupurominensufurea!** (**Hell Prominence Flare)** , in slow motion the pruple dazzle of flames rushed away from Bora, but Natsu Burst forward through the remains of the ship at incredible speed, a trail of orange flames, being left behind as he sprinted with his arms behind him, his feet leaving a trail of fire as he rushed in burning blur, faster than the eye could track, while still running he crouched down then burst into the air like a rocket, catching the giant vortex sphere of violet flames as he spun spun in midair. Only a second had passed, both Lucy and Bora registering that he was no longer standing in place, their eyes bulging comically as their minds registered what they were seeing, to them one second Natsu had been walking forward them in a stream of fire materialized in front of Bora's attack, Crushing the violet magic into his palms before swallowing it whole. Natsu continued to rise as he shouted **Hiryū no tetsu no ken! (Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)** A rocket flare of flames burst out of his elbows and feet, boosting him towards Bora still frozen in shock as his jaw slowly fell in fear and astonishment, as his Natsu's fist connected with his face with an echoing **BOOM! **he exploded in a torrent of flames, and was sent flying like a burning comet through half the town as debris and dirt burst upward until he crashed through the Great Hall's bell tower, shattering the bell. Bora's path through the buildings left a smoldering scar on the surface of Hargeon.

The entire incident took place in between a few heartbeats, Lucy had never seen anything move so fast,, it was almost like he had teleported!

After having knocked Bora clear across the city Natsu gracefully flipped back towards the earth, landing effortlessly on his knee in the sand with a small shock wave of air and then standing up with a shit eating grin as he saw the expression of Lucy's face.

Lucy stood slack Jawed at Natsu's attack, "Oh Wow that was Amazing! That fight only lasted a few seconds!" "And he's only released ten percent of his power Lucy!" Happy shouted as Lucy's eyes glazed over and she passed out from this new information.

Marching was heard as a battalion of soldiers stormed towards them, Happy shook Lucy awake "common we have to go!"

"The army!" Lucy cried, suddenly Natsu appeared at her side, and grabbing her wrist began to run away from the soldiers. "Common Lucy I really don't care to deal with these idiots right now!" She had no choice as she was dragged along like a rag doll in his gentle yet iron grip, "Wait where are you taking me?!" "Just common, you said you wanted to join the Fairy Tail Guild didn't you?, well I was heading there before i ran in into you so now so you might as well stick with me, so let's go!" Giving her one of his rare and actual smiles he pulled her along out of Hargeon and towards Magnolia as Lucy shrieked with internal giddiness, The Real Salamander, Natsu Dragneel was taking her to Fairy Tail!

* * *

As usual the guild echoed with the sound of happy cheers and conversation, Cana sat at the bar drinking from a wine glass, her legs crossed over one another as her brow ticked in annoyance, muttering about it being to loud to enjoy her drink in peace, Mirajane walked around holding a large wooden tray as she handed out beers to her guild mates, Loki sat at a bench with two lovely ladies sitting on his legs, a swag look on his face as they affectionately clung onto his shoulders. Fairy Tail was in full cheerful spirit. Suddenly the guild doors burst open and the buck toothed mage that resembled a shrew named Krov ran into the great hall. A few of the wizards tuned to look at him with curiosity at his babbling until finally he was able to calm down enough to understand. "Na Na Na Nat Nat Natsu's back!" he blurted out and began to babble again, jumping up and down while rapidly waving his arms like a headless chicken. Everyone in the guild hall gasped, Elfman tuned to Krov and began to shake him by the shoulders, "Be a man and make sense!" he shouted as he continued the violent action. Krov finally snapped out of his crazed confusion and started to explain. "I was talking to a few shopkeepers down by the market when I heard some gossip that sounded interesting, something about a fire wizard destroying the Hargeon port, then someone brought up that he had heard from one of the cities knights that whoever had caused the destruction had pink hair and claimed to belong to Fairy Tail, he had PINK HAIR " The rest of the guild began to mutter at one another disbelievingly. Cana spoke up; "It couldn't possibly be Natsu, we haven't heard anything about him since he left, we don't even know if he's still alive." "Yah but who else in all of Fiore has pink hair Cana?" Levy asked the card mage. "But it's impossible; Krov must have heard something wrong." Reedus said. "Stop making up rumors like you always do Krov it's so annoying!" Cana jeered at the buck toothed mage, "We all know Natsu's never coming back!" Mirajane, who second before had been looking up hopefully dejectedly dropped her head in disappointment; 'Oh Natsu, I miss you so much' she thought sadly, if only she knew what awaited outside the guild doors at that very moment.

* * *

Outside Natsu and Happy turned and presented the Fairy Tail Guild Hall to a beaming Lucy. 'It hasn't changed much since we left.' wondered Natsu, 'I wonder how my friends are doing?' he though as Lucy screeched in excitement: "Oh. My. GOD! It's so freaking amazing, this is the coolest thing ever!"

"Wait till you see the inside Lucy, your going to love it here!" He said smiling, but inside he was becoming very apprehensive at how his old friends would react to his return, and what they would think about his past two years away from Fairy Tail. Mustering up some courage he pushed open the large oak doors and stepped inside.

"We all know Natsu's never coming back!" Cana shouted as the guild doors were flung open dramatically for the second time that day, hitting Krov who had been standing right in front of them and sending him flying into a wall. Bright sunlight shined in as the clouds momentarily parted and blinded everyone in the hall. Suddenly the world went still as Cana's words died on her lips. Standing there in the doorway- pink hair sticking up in spiky tufts, a huge and silly grin on his face as a Blue cat floated above his shoulders were Natsu and Happy. Mirajane's eyes went wide, she drew in a sharp gasp as the beer class she had been cleaning dropped to the floor and shattered Cana snapped her head to the door with a crack as she knocked her wine glass over, Reedus dropped his unattended brush to the ground, Grey looked on dumbfounded, as did the rest of the guild. For what seemed like an eternal moment all the present members stared at their returned dragon slayer, their minds completely blank.

"What was that about me never coming back Cana?"asked Natsu trying to break the tension in the hall. Suddenly Grey (wearing only his boxers I might add) jumped up from where he had been sitting and ran at Natsu, fist raised and he shouted "YOU FLAME BRAINED IDIOT!" but he was abruptly knocked aside by Mirajane, her silky silver hair billowing behind her, tears of wonder and joy streaming down her face as she cried out "NATSU!"

Natsu was surprised to say the least as Mira rushed towards him and crushed him in a soft and heartwarming hug, her wet face pressed into the crook of his neck as she sobbed into his ear; "I knew you'd come back, I knew you'd come back to us Natsu." Natsu smiled at her actions and gently hugged her back (Lucy for the moment was completely ignored.) For a few minutes they stood there embracing as Lucy stood there confused, Happy flew, well- Happily around their heads, and the rest of the guild slowly recovered from their daze. Grey discretely coughed into his hand to bring their attention back to Mira hugging Natsu, Mira pushed him away blushing and stammered out "Oh- Um, Natsu, I can believe it, your back!" her statement finally broke the tension that had been building in the guild as it erupted into cheers and applause for the returned Wizard. Natsu notice a still fuming Grey glaring at him, "Hey pervert, where are your clothes?" he pointed out as Grey realized he was almost naked, "what the hell, why does this keep happening to me!" he shouted as he ran off in search of his discarded garments. "Still see he hasn't gotten over his bad habit."Natsu said, eliciting a giggle from Mira "Nope!" she said joyfully, her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she stared at the more rugged, mature and handsome looking dragon slayer. 'Wow!, he has grown so much in two years, but why is does my chest feel like this, why am I so flustered?' She pushed the warm feeling back into her mind thinking it was joy at Natsu's return. Lucy was still wondering about the guilds reactions to Natu's arrival, they were acting like they hadn't seen him in years, but he was a member right? She quickly forgot these thoughts as she walked to the center of the guild, admiring all the famous wizards she had read about. The noise in the guild continued to escalate until suddenly a large ad dark shadow fell over the hall. The giant steeped forward with a resounding BOOM. 'He's Huge!' Lucy thought to herself as her legs began to tremble in fear.

The giants voiced boomed out, overshadowing the uproar of the guild members. "Would you fools stop making so much noise you annoying children!" His voice resonated with power. Everyone in the guild froze in their positions like deer staring at floodlight beams a few members that were still in mid air from being thrown or having jumped froze as if defying gravity before falling back down with a silent thumph. A few nervous coughs could be heard as some broken glass tinkered on the floor. "Oh Master, I didn't even know you were still here, you won't believe it, guess who's back to Fairy Tail!" she said twirling with joy as she clung to Natsu's arm. The giant turned to her, "HMM?" Lucy sweat dropped 'He's the Mater!' she thought in awe. Natsu walked up up the master "hey what's up gramps, long time no see huh?" he said nonchalantly with a grin on his face, Happy having come to rest back on his shoulder. The giant turned towards the pink haired teen and was so surprised that instead of his usual transformation, there was a large puff of smoke as his normal minuscule figure returned and he promptly fell to the ground and landed on his ass with a humph. His eyes were wide as he looked up at his long gone child, "Natsu my boy!, I knew you'd return someday!" he said as a tear of happiness dropped down his cheek and s huge smile plastered hi face. Leaping with joy he summer-salted up to the second floor and promptly smashed onto the balcony, ignoring his acrobatic failure he had retreated to his office whistling a happy tune, he had come down to lecture the guild about their destructive habits and the complaints filed by the magic council, but he promptly forgot about that, he had other things on his mind.

Afterwards Natsu had introduced Lucy to the guild, she was promptly accepted and received a pink guild mark on her right hand. After some of the commotion of Natsu's retuned had died down Makrovhad called him, Happy, Mira, Grey, Lucy, and Elfman up to his office to have a very private and important talk. Natsu had explained that after he left (completely avoiding the still clearly painful and sore subject as to why, at which Lucy was elbowed in the ribs by a frowning Grey as he shook his head when she tried to ask.) he had decided to explore the world, to seek out ancient magic's, and incantations, hidden spells and lost arts, he stumble upon a wizard in the volcanic wastelands that claimed to be a fire god slayer, and trained in the mastery of fire under him, while traveling though the Ōkina yama mountains he met an ancient sage who had lived for hundreds of years, within the sages sanctuary, in which time was greatly slowed down, he was tutored in science, chemistry and physics learning about the composition of the world,, how to plan and formulate tactics, how to meditate. After he was deemed knowledgeable enough he left and continued East searching for Igneel without success until he reached a land of craggy stone spires, bamboo, cherry blossoms and slant eyed people. while in this new land he discovered the art of martial arts, hand to hand combat, the origin of samurai and ninja and eventually was trained by a great monk in the ways of physical attack and hand to hand combat, weapons usage and much more. Using a technique that allowed him to use solidified fire and magical energy to create clones, he was able to master many forms within a year, almost surpassing his master, before he was deemed as a successful warrior and left to return back to Fiore. Naruto narrated how while on the return home he continued to train endlessly day and night, researching, studding, refining his mind and strengthening his body alongside his best friend Happy. How along the way he had dealt with any dark guild or mages, thieves and bandits, crooks, murders and rapist that he came across and dealt with them accordingly. He had set out to become better, faster, stronger. Satisfied with this explanation the rest of the mages left the office amazed at his story, but Natsu and Happy stayed behind, they knew something was still on Makrov's mind.

* * *

"So….Are the other rumors true Natsu?" Makrov asked in a serious tone after locking the doors to the office not realizing the gruoup that had just left was leaning against the doors trying to hear inside. Natsu already knew where this was leading, "You mean about Dark Dragon right?"

"Yes." replied Makrov. Natsu nodded his head in agreement. "Then I assume the rest is also true, you have killed others then Natsu?" it sounded more like a statement, but Natsu replied anyways. "Yes."

"Why?" asked the old man with a sad and serious look on his face.

"Don't look at me like that Makrov, I have my reasons, the world is no easy place, it's not a fantasy world and it sure as hell aint a Fairy Tail, after Lisanna died, I was devastated, utterly broken, the first girl I have ever loved taken from this earth because of my weakness, before i even had a chance to truly express my feelings and love to her! Fate is a cruel mistress master, and the world is cruel as well. I have killed, but only in the name of justice, I deal punishment according to the crime, I deal with the evil of this earth as I see fit, people that don't care for human life, that will betray, rape, and slaughter innocent people without a second though, without regret, people with mo morals or conscious. I do what I do to keep innocent people that have never done any wrong safe, to protect them from harm, don't think I'm a cold and selfish bastard, I just do what needs to be done, what others aren't strong enough or willing to do, if I left the trash I come across live, if I just captured them like always, they might never pay for their crime, they may never face retribution, they me even escape and just continue walking down the path of evil, hell the Magic council doesn't really do anything, their existence is a sham, I've come across so many gangs and dark guilds that could have been obliterated by the council, but were ignored because of the councils own greed and corruption, and I won't stand for evil to run free, not while I can protect those I care or love. So don't you dare judge me old man, you have no idea what it's like to have your core destroyed, to have a part of you ripped out of your chest, even if you have lost someone you love, you will never know the same pain, it's not the same for a dragon slayer and a human to loose love, especially their first, for us it's like having part of yourself torn in half, our minds, our hearts and our souls will always be missing a piece from the one we lost, I cross the line when i need to and that may just make me the same as them, but i know right from wrong, and i still care about my actions, i still have a conscious, i just choose not to spare it on trash, just accept that what I do is a necessary action ."

Outside Mira, Lucy, Grey, and Elfman held in their gasps at Natsu's revelation, and his attitude.

* * *

Natsu finished his speech with a defiant glare at the old man, who sat silently mulling over his words. These were not the thoughts of the Happy and idiotic child he had once known, no they were the words of a person that had suffered a horrible and terrible loss, and had turned to the world and fought it with tooth and claw. The fact that he had brought up Lisanna in his speech meant that he was completely serious, though harsh and somewhat cruel, Makrov could understand Natsu's line of though, and although he did not agree with the idea of murder, he had no choice to accept the truth in the dragon slayer's words, he was right, the magic council had been slowly falling to greed and corruption, and it was true that if evil was not properly dealt with if would just rise again. But such a path, though righteous, was also very dark, and Makrov worried about how these actions were affecting Natsus mind, he truly had changed, he was mature, serious, sharp, observant, and even though he tried to hide it with a mask of his old cheery attitude, inside he held a growing rage and hate that could not be completely hidden.

Makrov sighed "Fine Natsu, I won't judge you, although I don't totally agree with your thinking, most of what you have said is true, just promise me, at least for Lisanna's sake, that you won't kill anyone unless it is truly a final resort, I don't want you worrying or scaring the rest of the guild Natsu, I mean it." he ended.

"Fine for her, ill do it, just for her, but I want you to keep that information to yourself old man, I agree that I don't want my friends thinking I'm some kind of monster, I don't want to lose their trust or friendship, that would be too much for me, I might have become less sympathetic, but only for my enemies, but I still value my nakama more than anything else on this earth, and if any one tries to harm them, they will be screaming for mercy as I burn them to hell."

The group outside rushed back downstairs at the sound of Natsu's footsteps, each person deep in though as they pondered over his words. They had all heard the anger and pain in his voice, and worried about his mental state, but before they parted they agreed to act as if they had never heard this information, especially around Natsu, like he said, he didn't need to feel like his friends thought of him as a monster. Mia also took Lucy aside and told her that when her sister Lisanna had died, Natsu took it personally and left, it was a short explanation, but Lucy understood as she comforted Mira.

* * *

The next day arrived after a night of celebrating and parting in honor of the returned Dragon slayer, Natsu had taken Lucy with him on her first quest, partly to test her skills, but mostly to find Romeo's father Macao, they had discovered he had been taken over by a pervy Vulcan, after being knocked out by a flick of the finger by Natsu (Lucy had almost beaten the Vulcan with the help of Taurus, but ran low on magical energy) before being revived had returned to normal. They had returned and united Romeo with his dad, much to the expectations of the guild regarding Natu's old attitude, though those that had known him longest felt a sense of discomfort, as if he was hiding something from them. Lucy had found an apartment to rent for only 70,000 jewels, she had shown Natsu and Happy her keys and explained the powers of a celestial wizard. Soon after Natsu had taken Lucy on her first official quest after deeming her worthy to be his partner, they had infiltrated the Duke Everlues mansion and retrieved the book Daybrake at the client's request. Natsu had easily defeated the Vanish brothers; with a single attack he had knocked both of them clear out of the mansion, Lucy with Happy's help had beaten the perverted Duke, and received his golden gate key of Zodiac constellation Virgo. Although they had not received the reward, they had gotten the client to read his father's last words. They had returned to Fairy Tail with a grumbling Lucy after which Mira explained the Guild system to Lucy, she had been pleasantly startled by Natsu's mature attitude when he took Reedus's light pen from her and thoroughly explained the setup off the various dark guilds, gangs, and bandit hideouts, including a large number he had personally taken out, taking many guild members by surprise. She had also noticed that since he had gotten back, Natsu had not risen to any of Grey's insults, either ignoring him or just telling him to go find his cloths. Although he still acted somewhat silly, this was a sharper and more mature Natsu. Meanwhile Loki had tried to hit on Lucy, only to run out of the guild shouting, when Lucy asked Mira what the heck that was about, she has responded that Loki had problems with Celestial wizards, rumor had it he had gotten in a bad relationship with one. However not five minutes had passed before the guild doors were flung open by Loki as he recovered his gasping breath.

" I've got bad news!" Loki shouted out, "Its Erza, she's on her way here!" The present guild members froze as a lightning bolt of shock rushed through them. Natsu turned at Loki's outburst 'Finally, the one I've been waiting see is coming back, Erza, Titania of Fairy Tail, I'll show you just how much I've grown!' he thought to himself with a sly grin.

"Wow just mention Erza and the whole place freaks out" Said Lucy, "Well she is the strongest female wizard we've got at Fairy Tail, and more than a bit intimidating!" Mirajane replied in her usual cheery attitude. Outside heavey crashing footsteps could be heard, it sounded as if Makrov were approaching in his giant form. The wizards of Fairy Tail began to nervously whisper and mutter to each other as a cold dread seemed to descend on all of them, the only people unaffected seemed to be Mira, who just stood by the bar smiling, Happy, who had actually fallen asleep, and Natsu, who now stood defiantly with his arms crossed, smirking at the scared reactions of the guild. 'If they are still scared of Erza and her power, wait till they see mine!' a chibi version of him exclaimed inside his mind.

"Damn, from these reactions you'd think she was some kind of demon or something…."Lucy imagined a towing and horned monster that blew fire as it stomped around Magnolia. "I'm so scared!" she said quivering in fear and anticipation at seeing the famed Erza Scarlet.

The sunlight streaming through the oak doors left only a black silhouette of an armored female as she marched into the guild; over her shoulder she carried a huge conic object. Walking into the center of the hall she deftly swung what appeared to be a giant horn over her shoulder and set it on the ground, the floor shook as it landed, sending up a small cloud of dust. Laying her hand on the jewel encrusted horn she dignantly and with the air of a military general ordered out: "I have returned, where is master Makrov ?" Her lustrous blazing red hair flowed down to her lower back, a small bang of it swept to the right of her forehead, her sexy and alluring figure was slightly masked be the armored top she wore, it was polished grey steel with a golden flour cross embedded over her left breast. She had a small armor plate over each slender shoulder, and a gauntlet with small wings on each arm. A blue miniskirt covered her well-formed thighs and her dark leather boots with raised heels only accentuated her great long legs and her tight and shapely but.

"Wow she's pretty." whispered Lucy at Erza's regal appearance, 'she may be wearing armor, but underneath that metal she has an amazing figure!, and her face, it's so serious, but she looks so beautiful and refined!' Lucy thought.

"Welcome Back Erza!, the masters at a conference right now, but I have some great news!" Mirajane said as she smiled widely at what she was about to tell her friend.

"So what is that thing exactly?" asked a blond haired guy in the crowd, "If you must know it's the horn of a monster I defeated, the locals were so thankful they decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir, however, its rude to interrupt!" she said as she slammed her fist into the man's stomach, knocking him out cold. "What were you going to say Mira?"

"Oh that's right, Natsu is back!" She burst out with unrestrained happiness.

Erza frowned at her and looked around, leaning past the horn she spotted Natsu standing there grinning his goofy smirk like old times, he was taller, more muscular, and his attire was completely different, but it was Natsu, for real and in the flesh. "Hey what's up Erza, you look beautiful as ever!"Natsu said as his smile widened.

A large tick mark appeared over Erza's brow as her frown deepened, a dark aurora sounded her as her shouldered hunched over and her fist clenched, shaking with rage. Many of the guild members nervously skittered back into the corners and walls, they knew that Natsu was about to get the beating of a lifetime. "Come on, did you miss me?" said Natsu, suddenly a large silver bastard sword with a winged cross guard appeared in Erza's hand, running forward at full speed she swung downward, closing her eyes as tears of rage sprinkled out behind her, she shouted as she swung the large blade at Natsu "YOU BAKA!" Suddenly her swing stopped midway, her arms strained as the tied to continue the ark of the swing, the guild collectively gasped at what they were witnessing, Cana inhaled the beer she had been chugging from a barrel and spit it out spluttering and choking for air, while a few others simply dropped backwards to the floor. Erza opened her crying eyes and looked up, drawing in a breath at the sight that greeted her. Natsu was standing there with a slightly sad and worried look on his face, a tiny smile on the corner of his lips; his left arm was raised up, his index finger pointed out. The edge of Erza's blade pressed firmly into his finger, but he effortlessly held it back, as if he were simply poking a large feather. Erza's arms shook with the combined strain of her muscles and the torrent of emotions swirling though her body. Natsu gently pushed her sword aside, stepped up to Erza, he gently brushed he tears away and lifted a few strands of hair over her eyes, she could only look up at him dumbfounded, 'Natsu has blocked my attack, Natsu of all people, he had grown, what strength did he have to hold off my attack effortlessly and with one finger no less, what has happened to him in the last two years?' she thought as her heart began to resound in her chest, her eyes locked onto his onyx orbs. Natsu wrapped his arms around Erza and pulled her in to a tight hug, holding her head he pushed into the crook of his neck as she unequipped her sword and sunk into his warming embrace, she had been about to cry and beat him with her fists, but his unexpected actions, and the warmth of his body, the feeling of his rock hard muscles embracing her, his hot breath, even his smell just set her at ease. Erza slowly relaxed into his arms, a content sigh, it was good to have him back.

"You baka, you dumb ass, why did you leave us, why did you leave Natsu?"she whispered as she drew back from his arms, looking into his eyes she couldn't help but feel that their dark onyx depths pierced her very soul, she felt helpless in his strong grip, powerless, but it was not a bad feeling, she felt that whatever happened the man before her would do anything to protect her, anything to keep her safe.

"I'm sorry Erza, I could stay here, I had to leave and become stronger, I had to be strong enough to protect the guild, to safeguard my friends and nakama, to protect you."

Erza turned away blushing at this statement, 'Since when had Natsu had such a way with words, he was the same, and yet, he had truly grown.' She thought. Unnoticed to the entire guild Mirajane looked at the pair, unconsciously frowning, her hand griped a flask and cracked it with the pressure she exerted. 'What was she doing with Natsu, it was almost like they were a reunited couple, even though my Natsu just got back…Wait, MY Natsu? Why did I think that?'

Finally the wizards of Fairy Tail settled down, Macao mumbling about getting a heart attack from so mush tension and unexpected surprises.

Erza regained her previous composure, then turning she beckoned Grey over to them. I have a request, Grey, Natsu- While traveling I overheard something that has me worried, normally I would consult with the master before acting but he's not here and this is a matter of utmost urgency, I was originally going to take only Grey with me, but seeing that Natsu is back after his two year hiatus, I ask that you accompany me as well." Erza said while looking at the dragon slayer. "I could really use your help, and seeing as how Natsu stopped my attack with little effort, I think he is ready to face whatever it is these rumors are hinting at."

More mutters of surprise circle around them. "Well meet at the train station tomorrow morning."

"Erza Natsu and Grey working together, I never saw that one coming, this could be- the most powerful tam Fairy Tail's ever seen!" gasped Mira.

"Right! Grey, see you in the morning, Natsu, you're going to tell me everything!" Erza said as she dragged Natsu out the doors by his ear, "Ow o wow, you know I can walk perfectly fine Erza, there no need to treat me like I'm still a child!" Natsu said indignantly

"I'm sorry Natsu, I… Never mind, just explain to me why you abandoned all your friends and ran away!"

They had reached the large tree at the center of South Gate Park and sat down under its welcoming shade, the azure blue sky glowed with sunlight as a few wispy clouds drifted in the breeze.

"Your right Erza, I did run away, I ran because I was scared, I ran because I was weak, but mostly I ran because, well because I just couldn't take it."

Erza nodded at his light reference to Lisanna's death, she had known that those two were deeply and madly in love with each other, and on some occasions had tried to spur Lisanna, who she though off as a little sister or a younger cousin, to confess her feelings to Natsu, but him being thickheaded and clueless, and she being too shy, the most Lisanna and Natsu had ever done together was hold hands and share a light kiss a week before she passed from this world.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and waited for him to continue. Natsu drew in a breath and began. He told her how he felt right after Lisanna's death, how rage and pain and hate and sadness and despair filled him, he explained how - from what little his father had told him - that a Dragon Slayers love is more powerful than any human love could ever be, and how he felt like a splinter of himself afterwards. He explained how he set out to become a better person, to become stronger that the strongest person he had looked up to, Erza Scarlet, the mighty and scary knight of Fairy Tail.

She blushed at this comment but it went unnoticed as he continued to narrate. He told her how he had set off to uncharted and lost lands- went past the borders of mountains, how he had trained and studied, becoming smarter and stronger in the process. He had learned new types of fire magic, old and lost spells forgotten to time, studied under a Fire God slayer fire magic that would be considered strange or impossible; he had learned about the structure of the universe from an ancient sage, the composition and properties of matter, the structure of atoms and the laws of physics and thermodynamics, the rules of magic and energy usage. How one could ignite oxygen and hydrogen molecules in the air, how to solidify fire into a physical form like Wakaba could, how to alter the temperature and stream of fire to warp its spectrum and properties and combine them with his emotion to create new and different colored forms. How when compressed and combined with a combustible gas, he could create plasma, and when he compressed it even more he could bend the earth's magnetic fields and create a nuclear fire, a fire so hot it vaporized anything it touched, a fire that was like a miniature sun.

He explained how his mental and physical abilities had also greatly escalated, he now thought about every word he said, every action he took, he planned before hand and during a fight, he no longer lunged into action with wild abandon, but acted with the precision of an assassins blade. He was also extremely fast and strong now as well, his stamina and durability had skyrocketed, he could easily bench press large boulders, and run as fast if not faster that Jet. He told Erza how he and Happy had also trained in hand to hand combat with an eastern fighting monk, how they mediated and expanded their magic reserves, learned to conserve maximum energy, learned how to use and adapt others fighting techniques, learned how to employ and wield bladed and melee weapons in combination with their powers.

He left out the details about his numerous rampages and murders, but opened up to her more that anyone else he had explained this to, except for Makarove of course.

Erza was dumbfounded by his long explanation, she couldn't even take half of it in, but now she understood how he had so easily stopped her attack, he really had grown and changed. 'It's going to be hard to stop treating him like the child I used to know, he's developed so much in just two years, from what he's telling me he may even be strong enough to beat Laxus, maybe even fight on par with Gildarts! His goal was to become stronger, and he has surely accomplished that goal, but I still want to see just how strong he really is!' she thought to herself. 'But there is also some other things about him, when he held me in his arms he was so gentle, so caring, he knew exactly what to say, and I completely melted into him, could it be I have started seeing Natsu as more than an annoying little brother…No that can't be, I was just so happy and confused to see him again.'

"What are you thinking about Erza?" he asked leaning back into the grass he was now laying on. "Nothing Natsu!" She blurted out a little too quickly, "Just there's so much that you told me, and it's a little hard to believe or take in."

" OK Erza, I'll leave you to think about what I've said, just know that Me and Happy are not going anywhere from now on, were he to stay, and I'm here to protect you." He said hugging her once more. and once more she accepted his embrace, melting into his arms as she madly blushed at his actions, and at her response, her face almost as red as her hair. "What's Wrong Erza, you got a fever or something, your all red." Said Natsu still as dense in relation to human feelings, especially those of women.

"No No, I'm fine Natsu!" she said quickly pushing him away and recovering her composure, "Well ok, I'll see you tomorrow morning at the train station!" Natsu stood up and walked away from her. Unnoticed by either of them a gleam of silver hair diapered from its hiding place as Mirajane ran back to the guild, a look of jealousy at the openness and affection the two had shown each other on her face.

**(There! chapter three is done)**

**AS you can probably guess this is the beginning of the rivalry between the Demon and the Knight of Fairy Tail to win Natsu's heart, though all three remain oblivious to it until later in the story (See Summary)**

**Also I have decided to kick of Angel and Knightwalker from his harem, and instead use one rarely seen character, Kagura, at the suggestion of XNaruKushiX, who i agree with in saying that they show up to little in Fan fictions. I'm also going to use ****Bound by Fate by Demonwithasoul as a reference to some story changes and to add Lucy to Natsu's Harem as well. (read it its a great story)**  


* * *

**Preview for chp 4-5**

**Natsu is fighting ****Erigor **on the train track , Erza, Grey, Lucy, and Happy Arive to see Natsu beating the shit out of him, but Natsu is distracted by their Arrival, Erigor tries to attack Lucy, but is almost killed by Natsu, the dark wizard then activates and fuses with Lullaby, attacking Natsu with Death Music and wind Magic. The others** try to help but Happy holds them back, Natsu destroys the demon, but a small part of it is absorbed into his body (this leads to his inner hate becoming stronger). He is also about to kill Erigor in a rage when Erza stops him and makes him promise to not kill anymore humans, (having been told by Grey he is the Dark Dragon that kills dark wizards) Natsu agrees. Erza is arrested by the council for the destruction of the train station, and Natsu tries to rescue her, thinking the corrupt council will hurt her or imprison her, only to find her arrest to be a sham, they stay the knight in a holding cell, and Erza begins to realize she has romantic feelings for the Dragon Slayer, he reveals to her all the details he had left out from his previous explanation. Then Phantom lord attacks, and Lucy and Mirajane also realize they are falling for Natsu, though they don't want to admit it even to ****themselves. **

* * *

******XNaruKushiX: Good idea, i have taken you up on that challenge!**

**StarCaptain: Thanks**

**Williamgbirkin: Sure, i still plan on adding a chapter at least once a week or two, maybe two in one week on the rare occasion. **

**alostt5: Yah i tried to show his changes from an always goofy and dense idiot into a darker and more somber persona, This Natsu is still caring and compassionate, but spares these emotions only to those he care for, but he is filled with a growing rage and anger. We'll see how heel turn out. **

**Williamgbirkin: Gladley**

**Any comments are appreciated, i want to reach at least 30 subscribers!**

**More coming Soon!, read my second Story, called: Fairy Tail High, the power Within, its a modern action scifi romance take on the world of Fairy Tail! (think Xmen, mission impossible, stuff like that) It will also be serious like this one, but no harem, Natsu must choose which woman he loves!**


	4. Falling for him?

**Long time since the last update, but with a bunch of school stuff and some writers block and absent mindedness, i have finally goten to chapter four, with summer here i assure you i will update about very week if not at most every month.**

**Disclaimer: it seems everyone likes putting these, so here it is: No I don't own Fairy Tail or any characters associated with it, that's why this is a Fanfic duh. Whatever here is the 4****th**** chapter**

'thoughts'

**ACTION**

**_Magic_**

"words"

-Flash- _flashback_

* * *

"So how is it that I could get over my motion sickness, but you still can't get over your habit of stripping Grey, maybe Erza is right and you're an exhibitionist in denial?" Natsu smirked at Grey as his ebony blue haired teammate fumed in anger. Natsu, Erza, Lucy, Happy and Grey were sitting in the booth of the train; Happy was lying across Erza's lap napping while Natsu sat to her right, across from them Lucy and Grey sat together, Grey leaned against the wooden sideboard.

Grey had met up with Erza at the train station early in the morning, surprised to see that Natsu and Happy were already there as well. Lucy had shown up a few minutes later as they had been walking inside. Lucy was stunned at the giant pile of luggage that Erza dragged behind her. She answered their questioning stares and told them that Mirajane had allowed her to come with them to gain experience and learn how to work with a strong team. When she had asked the red head what she could possibly be caring in all those bags Erza had responded- "Oh I just have some useful armors and my desserts Lucy." The blond had sweat dropped at this response. The group had then proceeded to board the train and find their way to an empty compartment as a bellhop struggled to pull Erza's entire luggage cart onto the train.

Now they were sitting and talking over random topics as Natsu teased Grey about his ongoing psychosis of staying dressed.

"Yah well, well… your pink hair is really gay…" Grey retorted lamely causing Lucy to smile at his childish comebacks vs. Natsu's devastating logic. "My hair has nothing to do with my sexuality Grey, at least I'm not a pedophile, walking in front of a school in only my underwear."

"Hey that wasn't even my fault, I have no idea how the hell my pants wound up on that girls head!" He huffed, "Sure whatever you say pedophile." Natsu smirked calmly knowing he had outgunned Grey, who was now fuming with embarrassment while Lucy giggled at his comment and Erza Smiled. "Natsu stop teasing Grey, just because you got over your motion sickness doesn't make you any better than him." She lightly scolded Natsu while still smiling. "Well it's not my fault that he gets so riled up; he needs to learn to control his emotions" Natsu replied.

"So Erza, what exactly is this mission that you thought was important enough to drag me and Natsu with you to accomplish?" Grey asked after he was done muttering what sounded like "flame brained charcoal faced mother fu…"

"Oh yes, well you see- Erza explained about the mission to investigate the rumors of Erigor and the possibility of him and his guild Eisenwald to be planning something having to do with Lullaby, she felt that even she would need assistance to take down an entire dark guild.

Natsu stared at Erza frowning as he thought over what she had said before he perked up at again: "Lullaby you say, I think I've heard of that name before, if I recall… yes I think it has something to do with a form of death magic." "Death magic, what's that?" Lucy asked innocently as she slightly leaned forward with interest. "It's one of the most dangerous magic types there are; there are your standard element manipulations magic's like fire, winds, water, earth and so on, there's magic types that go along the manipulation of objects like Erza, there is celestial magic, but you need keys for that, then there is special and unclassified magic, like manipulating energy, gravity, and shadows, one the very rare and dangerous special magic types is death magic. It's supposed to be forbidden to use, on account that it can kill almost instantly, regardless of any other magic trying to block it, there is also high possibility it kills its user if he expends too much energy."Natsu explained, for a second it seemed he had been wearing a corduroy sweater, thick framed glasses as he held a pipe, but then Lucy brushed off the image as she paid attention to "Professor" Natsu's lecture. "Death magic is very old, and no one really knows where it came from, however normal wizards can't learn how to use it, you would need access to some very dark and very old items that are imbued with it, or similar dark energy, a possession, like a demon soul, you can also be granted the same power if you become possessed or corrupted, I assume that this Lullaby must be some form of demon that has possessed an inanimate object, and the name itself implies that whatever Lullaby is it has something to do with music or sound, so we should be on the lookout for some form of instrument, because a demon will possess an object which can embody its magic." Natsu finished as he wiped his imaginary glasses on his imaginary coat.

"I suspected something along those lines, but if you say that Lullaby is that dangerous, even for Eisenwald to use it must mean they are planning something serious." Erza commented "yah, which means that whatever we are looking for we need to find it fast." Grey said "But how are we supposed to find Lullaby if we don't even know what kind of instrument it is?" Lucy asked Natsu, "Well just have to wing it when we do, I have a feeling we will stumble on it whether we want to or not." The all sat back and mulled over what the hell Lullaby could be.

* * *

The train slowed and pulled into the station of Onibus Town, Erza gently shook Happy awake and the group of mages climbed off the train, not realizing someone was missing. Back on the train Natsu had turned around at the door and silently slipped back into the main hallway, he had not said anything to his friends, and using his extensive skills in stealth had slipped away from the group without their notice. He continued to slowly walk down the aisle, stepping aside as more people got off the train. The entire time they had been talking, he had been feeling it since he had gotten on the train, and had given Happy a look before they got off, and his blue friend had nodded back, he had felt is as well. Silently Natsu had transmitted his intentions to the cat, they knew each other so well that words were not needed. 'Distract them when we leave.' That dark and subtle pulse of energy had been bothering hem the entire ride, 'It sure as hell felt like something dark, could it be that Lullaby had been transported on the train, could I really be that lucky?' Natsu thought to himself.

Natsu continued to walk through the carts, feeling the dark vibrations getting stronger until he walked up a man wearing a white colored jacket and light blue pants, his hair tied in a short, spikey ponytail, he had a black symbol for shadow on his back and a small satchel on his lap, tied to his waist with a drawstring. Natsu silently approached him and quietly breathed in, letting the air brush the back of his tong, scenting the taste the man was giving off. The stranger smelled of sweat, beer, and dirt, he obviously had yet to take a shower, but underneath that smell Natsu detected a hint of blood, this man had killed. But more than that Natsu could feel the dark pulses radiating from the bag, could this be Lullaby, it felt evil enough, his enhanced senses almost allowed him to see the violet and black waves pulse outward. Inconspicuously covering his Fairy Tail insignia with his black coat Natsu sat down on the other side of the man across the center aisle. The man glanced over in his direction but then ignored him.

'It would have been so easy to kill him, I could have snapped his neck before it even registered, but I promised Makarov and Lisanna that I wouldn't kill, and for her I'll keep that promise, but now how do I get him to reveal what's in that bag…."

Back at the Onibus station Happy had finally alerted the team about Natsu's absence, and Erza had marched towards the emergency stop switch and demanded that a station employ pull it, when he refused her she promptly socked him in the head and pulled the switch. 'Wow, everyone in this guild really is a little crazy.' Lucy thought to herself. "What was that Lucy?" Erza said dangerously squinting at the blond causing all color to leave Lucy's face "Wha Wha Wha" she gaped like a fish as she scuttled back away from Titania, "Nothing!" she finally shouted as she coward from the redhead. "That's what I thought." Erza said smirking.

Natsu, for all his agility, balance and reflexes, was not prepared for the train forcefully coming to a halt, and had flown face first into the floor, his coat sliding off and under the seat. Groaning he pushed himself up and turned to have a black boot kick him in the face, his nose crunched as it broke. He froze, as he listen to what he assumed was a mage from Eisenwald begin to speak. "So you're a Fairy Tail wizard huh punk, you trying to spy on me, I hate _Wizards_ like you, registered to _your fucking guild_ thinking you're so _high and mighty_, your nothing punk, you're a fly, weak and powerless!" He spit out. Natsu grabbed the dark wizards boot and pushed it of his face, "You mind me asking who I'm going to permanently handicap?" Natsu said in a steely and serious voice as he crunched he nose into place and released a small amount of magic to heal it, the blood flow drying out.

"Kageyama" responded the bored looking mage.

(Natsu vs. Kageyama)-FIGHT!

Natsu knew he couldn't go all out in such a small space, especially with other people on board, he would have to not only beat this guy down but take his bag as well, without causing too much damage. That meant precise fire attacks and martial arts instead of raw power, but ehhh, who really cared, as long as he reached his goal. Natsu clenched his fists as a thin film of fire surrounded his hands, and then spun around his forearm and wrist to form a thin blade of almost solid flames, close and compact; its wide base began at his elbow and then tapered to a point about a foot from his hand. Dashing forward he swung with the intention to cut off Kageyama's raised arm, but was slightly surprised when the mage sunk into the ground in a pool of shadows and reappeared at the end of the cart. 'Shadow magic then, cool, at least he's not as lame as that fat lard I faced, what was his name… Dranfkon or something, hmm, I'll remember later.'

"Is that all you've got fly! Well it's not nearly enough to defeat me!" Kageyama shouted as he unleashed his attack; **Kage keimusho shippu! **(Shadow Bind Compress), black shadow tendrils flew out of the magic seal and tried to grab ahold of Natsu's arms and legs, backfliping down the aisle he spun in the air and began slashing at the dark tendrils as they snapped by his face. Jumping in the air again he rolled over a seat and then sprinted forward as he wove in an out of the attack, only to have more tentacles fly at him, to many to doge or cut in the enclosed space. The ones that got past his guard wrapped themselves around his legs arms and waist, "Didn't know you were into that kind of thing Kageyama." Natsu teased in an effort to anger his opponent, and it worked, "Shut the fuck up Fly!" Kageyama shouted as the shadow limbs constricted, cracking one of his ribs and stopping the blood flow to his arms and legs. Natsu tried to pull his arms together, but surprisingly the shadow tendrils were stronger than normal, "There's no use struggling you can't escape your death!" The Shadow Wizard shouted as more bands of shadow wrapped around him like a cocoon and continued to squeeze, the shadow cocoon lifted him in the air and began to slowly crush out his life. 'Fuck' thought Natsu as two more ribs cracked, 'I need to get out of this now!' He flared his magic up around his body, orange and yellow flames curling on his skin, he increasing the flow the magic to the thin layer of fire compressed between the shadows clutching him as they grew hotter and brighter, turning white and then blue as they ionized and became plasma. Kageyama stared as his eyes widened, blinding blue light radiating between the cracks of his shadow cocoon until with a muffled shout the light burst forth and the tentacles that had been squeezing the life out of the Guild mage dissolved in blue flames. Natsu dropped back to the floor and reactivated his fire blades as the heat of his flames returned to normal, as soon as his feet landed he rushed down the carriage at Kageyama and they began a furious dance, for each rapid strike Natsu delivered, the shadow mage would parry with a dark tendril. Natsu's arms blazed with speed barely visible as he jabbed and struck, countering a few of Kageyama's attacks, suddenly his flaming blade cut through the shadow users head, only for his form to dissolve, Natsu sprung up like a cat, and spun in the air laying out straight, his arms to his chest as a razor sharp claw of darkness passed mere inches from where his heart would have been and cut through a seat splitting it in two. Still in the air Natsu pivoted and launched off the ceiling with a push of his hands, dive rolled off the ground and then flew at Kageyama as his fists were surrounded in explosive flames. The shadow mage barely had time to block as a small blast of fire tore the front of the cart wide open, the metal siding shredded and folded back like tin.

Outside the train Erza sat in the driver's seat of a green beetle shaped Magic Four Wheeler, sitting in the empty sitting area where the engine would be located on a normal car, and using her magic to propel it at top speed as Lucy screamed her head off in the passenger seat and Grey barley hung on to the roof. The Car swerved around a boulder as it followed the train tracks, pulling alongside of the speeding carts as a small and fiery explosion rocked one of the carriages at the center. Pushing more magic into the cord tied around her wrist Erza urged the car forward until they were parallel and running at the same speed as the train.

Back on the carriage Kageyama rose back out of his shadow pool, though he had avoided the blunt of the attack he was still singed. "That's it; it's time for you to Die!" He screamed, he reached into the bag that was still tied to his waist and pulled out a strange wooden flute, it had the shape of a human femur, with slotted holes running down the side and a three eyed skull on one end, glowing purple light emanated from its three eyes as Kageyama grasped it in his hand. The power he emanated grew larger and darker until it surrounded Natsu in a field of violet night. "What the hell is this!, Lullaby must be increasing his powers!"Natsu Shouted as Kageyama faded to black and disappeared, but his shadow still remained, a sinister purple glow emanated from it as it slid forward and attacked. Natsu raised his arms in a block stance as flames erupted from his skin and surrounded him in a protective flame shield, his fire circled around him as the shadow Kageyama, infused with Lullaby's power struck him, the power was overwhelming! Natus tried to hold his fire shield up but darkness closed in on all sides as his vision blurred, the dam thing was absorbing his energy. "Shit, I- Can't- Stay- Awake.' Were his last thoughts as he passed out and was blasted out of the train and into the air by the remainder of Kageyama's **Shadoukopī no zetsubō** (shadow copy despair) attack.

Erza gasped as she saw a spire of darkness fly out of the train and into the distance followed by the form of her Dragon Slayer as he sailed through the air, she tore at the controls and guided the Magic Four Wheeler towards Natsu as he fell down and hit Grey on the head, flipping backwards and rolling to a stop on the ground, still unconscious. Grey flew off with a huge bruise growing on his face as he fell back and rolled to a stop next to Natsu.

Spinning the car to a stop Erza Skidded to a halt and jumped off. "NATSU!" Erza shouted running towards her dragon slayer in worry she dropped to her knees and cradled his prone form in her arms, 'Oh god I hope he is okay, please Natsu be alright!' She thought as she stroked his soft pink hair. "Ohhhh, and what the hell am I, chopped liver?" Grey moaned as he rubbed his bruised face and sat up.

"Erza?" Natsu murmured as he slowly opened his eyes, "Yes?" she said letting out a relived sight that he was alright. "Can you- you know, put me down?"

"OH!...Yes!" she said dropping his head on the ground and hastily stood up with a deep red blush on her face that did not go unnoticed by Lucy. 'Why am I blushing, I must just have been worried about him, that's it' Erza told herself as she calmed down. "Ow." Natsu said as he rubbed his head and stood up, "What the hell did I hit; it felt like a hard empty pot." Lucy and Erza snickered at the clear insult that Natsu directed at Grey. "Hey shut the fuck up man, that freaking hurt you know!" Grey shot back.

"Yah Yah, okay, let's be serious, Erza, Happy, Lucy, Ice Prick, listen up!" Natsu said one more time unable to resist at a last insult at his now fuming teammate. "I found Lullaby, there was an Eisenwald mage named Kageyama on the train, he has shadow magic, and he was caring it with him, turns out I was right and it is an instrument, though it's really creepy, it's a wooden flute that looks like a bone and has a three eyed skull on one side. I tried getting it from him but he activated some of its power to enhance his magic and escaped, he is probably headed towards the next closest station, we need to hurry to catch up to him!"

Lucy gasped at his description of the flute; "Oh I know what it is now, I came across it in a book about old magic, Lullaby is the demon said to have a Song of Death, his cries sound like music but those that hear it begin to fall into a permanent sleep and then die!, It's a mass death curse, anyone that hears his melody dies!" She exclaimed. "Well lets pick up the pace Natsu said as he stepped into the driver's seat, Erza tried to protest but Natsu told her to wrest because she had used to much trying to catch up to the train, she finally relented and the others climbed on board, Grey and Lucy squeezed into the back seat with Happy, and Erza next to Natsu in the drivers seats their shoulders toughing inciting a small blush from her at the contact. Pumping his vast magic reserves into the magic four wheeler, they blasted off at high speed in the direction of where Kageyama had headed.

* * *

Finally the group, deemed "Team Natsu" had arrived at near Kunugi Station only to find a large crowd of worried onlookers milling about outside. Walking up to a man Erza grabbed his color and spun him around- "What's going on here?" she asked hem, when he sputtered out an incoherent "I don't know" she promptly head-butted him and dropped him to the ground, she was about to repeat this action when Natsu grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. "Erza, not that we don't need to find out why all these people are out here, but maybe you should let me do the talking."

"I am perfectly capable of interrogating these civilians; do you doubt my abilities Natsu?" She asked him with a steely gaze, daring him to say otherwise. "It's not that I doubt you Erza, it's just it will be a lot faster if you let me take care of this, common, please?" He gently told her, locking their eyes together as she began to blush at the intense stare of his deep, endless onyx gaze. She finally broke contact and looked away, her blush disappearing "Fine." She stated. Grey Was dumbstruck, not only had Natsu Got her to back down, he had not been beaten up by Erza, and he had made her of all people blush, was the world coming to an end!?' he thought incredulously. Her blush too was not missed by Lucy, who thought to herself "what's going on between those two, the don't see each other for two years, they are only friends right?, but then how can Natsu of all people get the Titania of Fairy Tail to blush, does she have feelings for him? I admit he is good looking, he's smart, and handsome, kind and funny, and very badass when he wants to be, he has that exotic pink hair, those deep piercing eyes, and those delicious rock hard abs and…." Lucy eeped and blushed at her train of thought, but went unnoticed.

Natsu turned to the group- "Common were not going to get through this crowd, hold on to me." He said as he lifted his right arm and pointed towards Kunugi Station; the rest of his team looked at him in confusion but grabbed a hold of him anyway. Natsu whispered under his breath, just loud enough for the rest of the group to hear, "Honō furasshu" (Flame Flash). Suddenly golden flame burst around their bodies as the world seemed to ignite and blur, a slight tug was felt inside their guts, as if they were free falling, just a millisecond later the flames died down and vanished. Lucy Gasped as she realized that they were now at the front of the very large crowd. "What the hell just happened?" Grey asked Natsu as he grinned, "Nuh, uh Grey, a Mage has to keep his secrets" Natsu said.

He turned and walked to one of the city guards than stood at attention in front of the station, blocking access to the entrance. "Hey, sir, you wouldn't mind telling me and my comrades what's going on?" "Citizen, if you would kindly step back, the train station is suffering from some complications and you need to stay back for your safety." The guard told Natsu stepping to block his path. "Ok, first, were Fairy Tail Mages, second, were after Kageyama, a mage working for Erigor and the Eisenwald dark mage guild, he came in this direction and seeing all this commotion I assume he is inside the train station doing something, third no time to argue so step aside or ill make you." Natsu steeled his voice at the guard, "Sorry I can't let you do that, we have a squad of Rune Knights already taking care of the prob-" he didn't finish because Natsu, coping Erza, had crossed his arms and head-butted the man, knocking him out. Motioning for his teammates to follow him he briskly moved forward, ignoring the disbelieving cries of the crowd and the other guards that tried to stop them. One unlucky guard tried to grab at Erza, but taking Natsu's action as both a cue and permission, she grabbed him by the coat and head-butted him as well. The group made their way inside and saw on the grand staircase leading to the main station all the Rune Knights lying severely wounded. "Shit, Happy, go find medical help, some of these guys are bleeding out!" Natsu commanded and Happy nodded as he flew back out to find a doctor. Natsu tuned to Erza; "Hey beautiful, this is your team, you lead ahead." Erza was caught fuming and blushing at his comment as Lucy and Grey Snickered. "Ok follow me she said as they stepped through the archway and into the brightly light station.

Filling the station was every single dark mage in Eisenwald, floating above them was a shirtless man with blue tendril tattoos, he was wearing a raggedy and torn black scarf and a torn samurai Ō-Yoroi with a white sash, he had black gloves and his wrist were wrapped in white bandages, he had black tattoos under his eyes and a lock of his flowing silver hair hung over his face, over his back he held a large and jagged scythe with an ancient wooded handle. This man glanced at the Newly arrived group and shouted to them with a superior tone-"So, the flies have finally caught up, I was wondering how long it would take you, Kageyama here told me about your little scuffle on the train, how pathetic that you could not even touch him, By the way I'm Erigor, and if you thought you were going to get this." Erigor said as he pulled Lullaby from his pocket and waved it at them in a teasing manner; "Then be prepared to die, because we're going to set this up and Play music for the entire town." Erigor chuckled dryly at his underlying threat. Natsu and Erza both narrowed their eyes as Lucy and Grey gasped at what he was implying, Erigor the Ace of Eisenwald was going to use the train stations PA system to play Lullaby, killing the crowd outside and anyone close enough to hear.

"And what do you hope to accomplish with pointless killing Erigor?" Erza asked as she glared at him. "That's for me to know and you to die!" As he shouted out the last part, which seemed to be a signal, the dark mages ran forward and charged the Fairy tail wizards. Erigor Flew towards the Large Glass windows at the back of the station, and with a swing of his scythe, a gust of wind shattered the glass; he flew out into the sky as Natsu crouched down into the **Sukōpionsutairu** (Scorpion Style-concentrates on blocks and hard defensive strikes with the hands and devastating kicks, like the strike of a scorpion's tail) Lucy Took one of her keys out and summoned Cancer, who stood at the ready with his crab scissors, while Grey charged magic to his hands as frost appeared on his arms and the area around him grew colder-his shirt had mysteriously disappeared. Erza tuned to Her Dragon Slayer; "Natsu." He turned and looked at her; "Go after Erigor, I know you can handle him, well take care of this scum." Natsu nodded in affirmation and Crouched even lower and then blasted over the heads of the dark mages as he flew through the shattered window.

In a side room of the Mages Guild headquarters in which a very important meeting was taking place Makarov had briefly stepped out to view the letter that had arrived for him from Mirajane. His eyes were wide in terror and his jaw slack at the information the tiny projection of Mira had informed him of moments ago. 'Erza, Grey, Lucy and NATSU had formed a team, a TEAM! A group that powerful, especially with Natsu, they were Fairy Tail's strongest team; and could very well destroy an entire town, I'm screwed!' Makarov thought as he started hyperventilating and then passed out.

Back in the train station Erza had floated into the air as light radiated from her body, her cloths burned away briefly reveling her nude form, her flawless smooth skin and perfect figure, her ample DD breasts with light pinkish red areolas and stiff nipples, the small tuft of trimmed red hair between her legs, about 30 dark mages were instantly knocked out from massive blood loss from their brief glimpse of female perfection as Erza reequipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and proceeded to slash at the perverts that had glimpsed her figure, the wheel of swords spun behind her furiously as she flew through the crowd like a living blender.

Natsu ran through across the tracks, his incredible stamina allowed him to run full throttle without tiring, he was hot on the trail of that bastard Erigor, who he could see flying in the distance.

Natsu had chased the Dark mage out of the station and tried to attack only to be blown away by a gale force wind in midair, Erigor had then erected some kind of wind barrier around the entire station, trapping Erza Lucy, Grey and Happy inside. Now he was fast catching up to that arrogant prick, as he ran leaning forward with his hands behind him (think of the Ninja run from Naruto) he let out a burst of flame to speed him forward. Crossing the tracks over a seemly endlessly deep gorge he brought his arms forward and shouted **"Kaen misairu danmaku!"** (Flame Missile Barrage) About thirty streams of fire shot out of his hands and open mouth and homed in on the flying Erigor. While the silver haired mage was busy dodging and batting away the fire missiles with gusts of wind Natsu ran to the center of the bridge and sucked in a breath of air as he cupped his hands over his mouth; **"Hiryū tōchi!"** (Fire dragon torch) a whirling stream of white flames shot from his mouth and burst from his funnel shaped hands as it compressed and became blue. Erigor swung his scythe to block the attack, his eyes widening as the flames exploded around him with yellow and blue.

Natsu watched as Erigor picked himself up from where he had fallen; the two mages now faced each other on opposite sides of the tracks, Erigor bristling with fury and Natsu smirking deviously. "And to think you call yourself the Ace of Eisenwald, you are really pathetic Erigor." Natsu smiled as his comment brought rage to the silver haired man's eyes.

"Fuck you Fairy Tail trash! How can you possibly think you are even at my level, you couldn't even beat Kageyama, and I'm so much stronger than him, no one has ever defeated my before!" Erigor screamed out. "You're really full of yourself you know, maybe your wind magic is filling your head full of hot air."Natsu casually commented. "FUCK YOU, you don't even know the true purpose of Lullaby, I'm going to use its power to kill all the guild masters, then I will have the power to control all of Fiore you pathetic worm, no one can stop me!" Natsu was casually picking the wax out of his ear before replying with an eye smile; "Hmmm….You say something?" (Somewhere in an alternate reality a sliver haired man with a mask over his mouth and a headband with a swirly leaf symbol over his right eye sneezed and dropped the little orange book he had been giggling at.) Erigor screamed as he charged at Natsu, his powers flaring with emotion as the wind swirled around him.

Natsu smiled and dropped his stance, his left leg forward and to the side while his right was at an angle and under his right elbow, his left arm reached out in a claw as his right bent over his head in a relaxed manner. **"Sutairu no sutansu"** (dragon style stance) he whispered as Erigor charged at him. The blade of the scythe passed an inch over his head as Natsu ducked and then began to weave in and out of the slashes, suddenly pain burst from his side and he looked down to see a gash on his side. "Wind then, to extend your attacks?" Erigor just smiled at his adversaries comment and said; "that's right, even if I can't hit you, you still get cut; now all you have to do is Die!" Natsu backfliped from the incoming slash of wind that left a deep gash in the iron tracks. 'time to take it up a notch!' he thought to himself as he returned to the dragon stance, but instead of waiting for Erigor to charge at him, he twisted into a leaping twirl and began to attack. Running forward he spun over another wind slash and kneed Erigor in the chest, then grabbing onto his shoulder with his right hand turned over in the air and flipped the dark mage over his shoulder throwing him quite a distance.

Rushing up to Erigor as he rolled across the tracks Natsu began a barrage of flame covered punches, each one being avoided by the now standing mage, twirling in a double roundhouse kick Natsu shot a burst of fire from his ffot but it was knocked back by another slash of wind-blasting him back as he flipped in the air and landed. 'Erigor is pretty good at hand to hand, especially with his ability to wield that scythe, let's see how he does against my magic!" skidding to a halt Natsu clenched his fists as he released 50% of his magical energy, fire exploded is a swirling sphere around him as his hair caught fire and became more feral, his canines extended into fangs and plated scales grew on his skin. His hands slowly shifted into claws, the nails extending as his ears became slimmer and pointed. His eyes burned red as the irises contracted into black slits and the fire swirling around him contracted into a layer on his now scaled skin, two small ribbed horns emerged from his hair, each about 6 in in length.

Sucking in a lungful of air Natsu shouted **"Karyūnohōkō"** (Fire Dragon Roar) A beam of spinning blue flames blasted forward, Erigor activated a wind barrier similar to the one he left at the station except this one surrounded his body, a second later the flames reached him and the surrounding area exploded in fire as the tracks underneath shuddered and melted from the heat. Still even with his wind barrier the blast still sent him flying into a large rock, where he fell leaving an imprint on the boulder he had hit and landed on the other side of the canyon. As soon as he landed Erigor stood up and reached into his pocket, pulling out the Lullaby flute.

"Oh shit" Natsu thought as he stopped mid stride watching Erigor tightly grasp Lullaby in his hands. "Now face your demise Fairy Tail SCUM!" Erigor shouted maniacally before he began to laugh out of his mind as dark pustules of energy flowed from the flute and into his hand. The eyes on the skull glowed purple as the air took on a scent of a dark and powerful despair. Erigor's features began to darken, his skin took on a greyish hue as his eyes began to glow the same purple color as the flute, and his hair stood on end as if electrified as it changed from silver to pitch black, his maniacal laugh turned into an evil chuckle as his face became shadowed with an evil grin. Horned protrusions of bone burst from his skin, spike of bone from his spine as his teeth grew into needle like shapes. Blood began to drip from his now glowing eyes as a third eye burst out of a gash that had formed at the center of his forehead.

**_"SO THE LITTLE MAGE WANTS TO USE MY POWER, WELL AS LONNG AS HIS BODY HOLDS I WILL REAP THE SOULS OF INNOCENT AND GUILTY ALIKE, YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO FEED ME FAIRY TAIL MAGE!"_**

The possessed Erigor opened his jaw and an orb of purple energy gathered briefly before bursting out in a laser like line as it cut through a section of tracks like a hot knife through butter. Natsu barley managed to run and jump over the beam with a another flip, he barley recovered before a gale force blast sent him flying into a cliff face, before he could impact however he flipped midair and began running along the cliff at full speed as another violet laser beam followed behind, carving a line in the rock. 'FUCK!, I have no choice now, I have to get him away from that flute before it becomes a full possession and Lullaby reforms his true body!' Natsu frantically thought to himself. He began jumping from each of the rock pillars sticking up from the dark gorge as he avoided more blasts of wind and laser beams as Erigor chased after him, leaping like a dog. As he glanced back already he could see Erigor's body continue to grow as his skin tuned into a dense wood and horns erupted on the sides of his head. Landing on a loose rock Natsu lost his footing and began to fall, only to be smacked by a gigantic claw across the gorge blowing through another section of tracks and creating a crater when he impacted the ground just as a Green Magic Mobile skidded around him and screeched to a halt.

Erza jumped out of the driver seat and stood in awe and fear as she watched Lullyby finish his transformation, standing in the canyon over 300 ft high was the largest creature she had ever seen. Its wooden body and thick torso with a hollow cavity running through it, horns sprouting along its head back and limbs, three evil glowing eyes, it was a sight to behold. 'So that is Lullaby!' Erza though as a trickle of dread ran through her body. 'Oh shit, Natsu!, God please let him be ok!' she prayed as she tuned back and ran to Natsu's prone form in the crater and gently shook him out of unconsciousness. Lucy had hid behind the car and was cowering in fright, Grey and Happy cricked their necks as they stared upwards, their eyes the size of dinner plates and their jaws slack.

Opening his eyes Natsu jumped out of Erza's grasp and pushed her up as well; "Fuck you can't be here, Erza, take them and leave, they can't handle this, Lullyby is to strong, I need to do this alone!" he shouted at her. "Natsu Drganeel!, I am an S class mage, I can help you-you idiot!" she shouted at him as Lullaby took a resounding step forward swinging his arm down and completely destroying the bridged like a toddler slapping over a stack of Jenga blocks. "NO I CANT LET YOU GET I HARMS WAY, I MADE A PROMISE ON MY LIFE, TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO PROTECT THOSE I CARE FOR! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU OR GRAY OR HAPPY OR LUCY BE IN DNAGER BECAUSE YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO PROVE OR THINK YOU CAN HANDLE IT, I NEED TO TAKE LULLABY DOWN SO GET IN THE DAM CAR AND LEAVE!"

Erza would have been furious with him had she not glanced at his eyes, those deep dark onyx eyes that for a second had changed from the icy black uncaring eyes he usually had become a window to his soul, a pool of endless desperation, sadness and loss. Instantly she saw behind his mask of coolness and fake smiles, she saw what was in his mind; he was a afraid of losing then, afraid of Lisanna happening all over again, his shattered heart and mind had been masquerading a smile to cover the whole inside, but for a moment she saw the raging storm of emotions inside. Turning to the group she ran and unceremoniously threw them back in the car, strapping on the power cord and spun, racing away as Lullaby Smashed his claw down to where Natsu was standing.

Using Flame Flash he teleported away as a large section of the valley wall was carved out. Appearing behind the demon on the opposite side of the valley Natsu crouched to take a breather, and then flashed away again as another hand came down and obliterated where he had been. 'I have to take it out I have to use my full power!' he thought as he released the rest of his magic. The horns on his head glowed cherry red then orange as they grew to become a foot long, the scale on his arms and chest became more defined, the fire on his skin reappeared and engulfed him as he ran, his face even more animalistic the tribal wing tattoos on his back shimmered with heat and glowed s they starched and extended off of his skin, burning the remainder of his vest as they caught fire and flapped behind him. Flipping into the air he shouted out **"Hiryū no tsubasa no suraisu!"**(Fire Dragon Wing Slice) He flapped his wings as two streams of fire spread out and slashed into Lullaby's arm and chest, still in the air he crossed his arms and then flung them out shouting **"Kasai bakuhatsu shōgeki!"** (fire blast bombardment) hundreds of tiny daggers made of fire flew out and truck Lullaby as it blocked with its uninjured arm and tried to swat at Natsu, each hit clawing a tiny hole in its body. Natsu flapped once to rise above the incoming claw then released his wings as they returned to his tattoo form, he fell onto the arm as it swung past and began running up the demons body. **"Senpū enjin!"** (Whirlwind Flame blade) he shouted as white hot blades of flame began to form around him, spinning in a circle around his body as they slashed and chewed away at Lullaby's arm.

He was once again blasted off by a gale force wind that tore at his skin with its force, on a semi distant plateau Erza stood with Grey, Happy, and Lucy as they watched the epic battle unfold. Happy was both worried and confidant that Natsu would be able to defeat the demon, Grey was astounded by the battle and apprehensive for his friend, Lucy was also scared as hell thinking if this was what S class mages had to face, but most of all Erza was frightened out of her mind, she had tears glistening in her eyes as her heart thundered in her chest, 'god please, I beg you let Natsu be alright, please let him be alright!' she begged silently as Natsu continued his fight staggering the demon with another attack before being grabbed in Lullaby's hand and then thrown. Erza gasped as she saw his body about to impact the wall of the canyon she closed her eyes unable to look at the man she was unwittingly falling for fly to his doom.

* * *

He had briefly blacked out at the last hit but the pain in his chest, no his entire body woke him up. He sailed through the air and knew he only had enough in him for one more attack, if he failed, then Lullaby would go after Erza, Lucy, Happy, and Grey- if he could not stop it, then it would run rampant and kill thousands. Flipping in the air he impacted the gorge wall feet first, a circle of cracks spidering into a crater as he used the momentum to springboard of with all his power directing fire to shoot from the soles of his feat to accelerate until it felt his skin would peel off. Lullaby began to charge his beam attack again and time slowed to a crawl; **"Hiryū piasuhōn!"** (Fire dragon piercing horn) Spinning like a drill he allowed the rage in his mind to fuel the fire he emitted, he allowed he emotions free, the pain, sadness, hurt, loss, longing, and hate sprung in his chest as he roared like an enraged dragon as he spun forward; "I WILL PROTECT THOSE I CARE FOR, THOSE I LOVE, I WILL NOT LET YOUR MEMORY BE FORGOTEN, I WILL NOT FAIL YOU LISANNA!", his flames turning black and violet as they surrounded his body, a spinning drill of power.

Lullaby's eye's widened as Natsu pierced through his chest, and exploded out of his back, leaving a gaping hole that began to crumble away; the black flames engulfing and eating away inside him, his body being consumed in the fires of Natsu's passion. Falling back the giant body of Lullby burned to ash, chunks breaking and dissolving from its body as it descended, before it could land its body was already gone, ash left in the wind. Falling to earth Natsu let his fatigue overwhelm his body, he felt so tired, his entire body hurt, but he had a small smile on his lips as he impacted the ground and skidded into a crater, he had saved them, his friends. 'Their safe, I did it, Happy, Grey, Lucy…Erza, your safe.' His vision dissolved into black.

Erza was running, running like she had never run before, she felt a pain in her chest, a deep throbbing ache; 'no,no,no,no,No,NO!, PLEASE NATSU BE ALIVE PLEASE!' Her mind screamed as she finally reached a few yards before the rest. She landed on her knees not caring as some pebble dug into her skin and drew blood, she cupped his battered frame that was covered in gashes, torn skin and bruises, taking his head she rested it against her chest as she gently stroked his hair, a single tear falling down her perfect face and landing on Natsu's cheek. 'Thank god he's alive, he still breathing!' Erza thought as she lovingly ran her fingers through his dirty and sweat mated hair. Grey had pulled a communication Lacrima from his pocket and had contacted Makarov and explained the situation to him, as they were relatively close to the Guild Meeting Hall. Happy was sniffling, his tiny frame shaking with joy that his "Dad" was still alive, Lucy was amazed at what Natsu had done, he was willing to sacrifice himself and give everything to ensure their safety, he really was a great guy, a pang of jealousy ran through her chest, she wished she could be the one to hold him like Erza was now and stroke his hair, she wished he had called her beautiful to.

* * *

Natsu-POV

'A gentle sensation ran through my scalp, my body hurt like hell, it felt like it been run over by a train, but I was lying on a soft warmness. I felt a cold wetness hit my face and opened my eyes, my vision blurry as crimson invaded my sight. Slowly a sweet beautiful face came into focus, Erza Scarlet, a red haired angel, in my brain addled state I whispered the first word that came to mind: "Tenshi" But then a pang of guilt crossed my chest, could I be falling for Erza? She was like an elder sister to me, someone I had to prove myself to, what about Lisanna, I still loved her so much it hut, oh god I was so fucking confused, the pain didn't help either. I looked at her shocked face and regretted opening my mouth, fuck now she probably took it the wrong way, I had only been flirting with her before, what the hell would she think of me, her little brother figure toying with her emotions, I was such a fucking ass, I steeled my resolve and settled my face back to that fake smile I had been wearing since I had returned to the guild and slowly let her prop me up.'

* * *

Erza-POV

'I was stroking his hair as his breathing, though strained and wheezing retuned to a normal rhythm, slowly Natsu opened his eyes and stared into mine, he whispered out barley loud enough for me to catch; "Tenshi" Oh my god I gasped-he called me Angel, I saw his face shift to shock, then worry then guilt then pain until it settled back to a smile, on I now knew was fake, his eyes were cold and dead again, not even having that playful glint he had when he teased me. A pian shot through my chest again as another tear ran down my face, I propped him up gently. i felt sad, how guilty he must feel to even having shown me that from of affection, thinking that he was betraying Lisanna's memory, he would not let anyone get close to his real self, for a fraction he had let it through, the Natsu that had shown before she died. But why did I feel a warmness in my belly, a flutter at he memory of his barley heard whisper- Tenshi, he had called me Angel, is that how he saw me, did he have feelings for me? Was I falling for him, I kept thinking of Natsu as being mine, and his presence warmed and made me feel safe, as if the armor I wore was not needed, could the be what likening a person was, to let them worm your way into your heart, maybe we were both grasping at some form of connection to hold off our past, him loosing Lisanna, and me, the cursed tower and Jellal. I looked back at my dragon slayer as he gently snored having fallen asleep in the car after we laid him there, his head in my lap as Grey Drove to meet up with Master Makarov. I wondered what tomorrow would bring.'

'Natsu'


End file.
